CHENNAI: A few years ago, Neil Samraj took to sprints just for the adrenaline it gave not expecting anything out of it. Growing up in Venkatapuram, Coimbatore, a few videos of athletes sprinting on YouTube changed his outlook. As he saw athletes purr in the success, Samraj realised that he can be one of them too.
Now, at 17, he has rewritten the youth national record. On a windy evening at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana, Samraj defied doubters, not once but twice. In the semi-final, he had already broken the youth national record set by Anshu Rajak (10.63s) in 2023. But in the final, he further lowered it to 10.53s. “The track was very favourable to run. But the headwind was not favourable. So, there was a bit of a disadvantage. After that run in the semifinals, I gained a lot of confidence,” he told this daily. As the Indian sprint scene continues to gain momentum with records tumbling this year, Tamil Nadu teenager Neil Samraj R’s 10.53s run in the U18 men’s 100m final at the National Youth Athletics Championships comes as a big sign of encouragement.
The teenager, whose father works in a bank and mother is a government school teacher, convinced his parents that he would take up sprinting after watching a few videos on sprinting on YouTube. “It all began when I was studying in class IX. We were not that financially strong, but they managed to help me in their own ways," he explained.
Then, their parents took them to coach Velmurugan Balraj, who runs Unique Sports Academy in Coimbatore. In their four-year association, Samraj’s record-breaking run is a landmark moment. Additionally, Samraj is also backed by Reliance Foundation and trains and recovers at their Mumbai facility.
Entering the year with a personal best of 10.68s, Samraj aimed to further lower it in 2026. However, he took part in the Junior Federation Athletics competition in Bengaluru in April with a hamstring injury, which forced him out of the Junior Asian Championships. “I recovered at Reliance Foundation’s Mumbai facility. More than the training, it is their support during recovery that helped me a lot. Therefore, I was able to get back into good shape ahead of the crucial part of the season,” he said.
On his first senior event back from injury, he clocked 10.56s in the men's u20 final of the Indian Open Athletics series in Pune in June. Then, a 10.59s run in the Thiruvananthapuram leg of the open series earned him a spot in junior men’s 4x100m relay team for the U20 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA.
But the off-season work with coach Velmurugan is what helped him lower his time. “Apart from the support I received from different sets of people, including reliance, It was the coach’s inputs on the starts, drive and the blocks that helped me,” he said.
With the Youth Olympics scheduled in November this year, Samraj believes he can further break the National record again and clock a sub-10.4s run. “That’s the aim for the season. With a few events like the Junior Nationals in October (in Chennai), Khelo India and the All India University Games, I would hope to have broken the record before the big event in Dakar,” he said.
