RANCHI: The 400m event in India was always going to have more eyes. Historically, the country has seen some success in this event, beginning from Milkha Singh’s 45.6 second run. Then, the likes of Arokia Rajiv and Muhammed Anas Yahiya helped put India on the map, with the latter winning India's first gold at a global meet (2018 Commonwealth Games) in a track event.
However, quartermiler Vishal TK’s run on Day 2 of the National Senior Athletics competition at the Birsa Munda stadium broke a long- standing barrier — clocking under 45 seconds. In the men's 400m final on a pleasant evening here, Vishal got himself ahead after the first block, and steered clear of his opponents by the last straight.
And when the screen near the finish line glowed 44.98 seconds, Vishal cried his heart out. His father Thennarasu rushed to him to share a hug, before finding out his coach Jason Dawson was sprinting towards him. Dawson, generally a no-nonsense taskmaster, broke character for his ward, showing how much this effort to them.
"I made my mind up before entering this race. I know I can run 44 seconds but I kept it tight. Everyone said you can run 44 seconds, but I simply said, 'let's see.' But I trained hard for this. It's always behind the scenes," Vishal told reporters after his record-breaking run.
While conditions in Ranchi have influenced athlete performance in different ways so far. Vishal was not deterred by it. "It was about the mindset. I can run on the sea too!," he added.
Even after a national record run last year's Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai, (45.12 seconds), coach Dawson had said that Vishal has to work on his running form and has a lot to improve. "This is my coach's mindset that I have. He taught me a lot. I'm still learning from him. Still more to come. I'm still learning how to run," Vishal said.
Third time's the charm for Tejaswin
Tejaswin Shankar breached the 8000-point mark in the men's decathlon. In addition to breaching the national record (8057 points), he also bettered the qualification mark for the Commonwealth Games.
"I was very happy to be able to achieve this. Because I had this opportunity to do it twice this season. In the heptathlon, I was this close to the 6000-point barrier but did 5997. And that really stung. Even though my best before that was 5657 or something like that.
"But I knew I was in shape to get that 6000-point barrier. Sometimes, when you are that close, you get more stings. Versus, if I am at 5800, I don't know if I would have scored 200 or 100," he told reporters after his 1500m run.
"It's just things that play on your mind. The exact same thing happened 3-4 months after that in San Angelo. When I did my first decathlon. Explosive day 1. Again, day 2, I had some breakthrough performances in the pole vault. Then 1500m, all I had to run was a 4:40 in the 1500, and I ended up running 4:51," he said.
Tejaswin's goal for the day was to clock 4 minutes and 37 seconds in the 1500m event. "In my mind, I was thinking 4:37 was what I needed to break that 8000 point. But I was like, I'll stick to my pace. Which is around 1:11 for 400m, 2:22 for the 800 and try to get to 3:35-3:36 for the 1200m. Right at the closing, when I saw myself at that 1400 metre mark. I was (clocking) around 4:12. Then, I asked myself, I can try and break 430. But I also thought about slowing down. But then I thought, 'where will I get a chance like this in life?' So I just went for it. And when I saw a 439 pop up, I was very happy," he said.
