Overview

• At the Dromia International Sprint and Relays Meeting in Vari, Greece on July 5, 22-year-old Animesh Kujur became the first Indian to break 10.20 seconds in the 100m with a 10.18-second run.
• Kujur’s timing eclipsed Gurindervir Singh’s previous 10.20-second record and capped a season in which he also holds the 200m mark of 20.32 seconds set at May’s Asian Athletics Championships.
• On the same day at Poznań’s Memoriał Czesława Cybulskiego, Asian Games silver medallist Mohammed Afsal lowered his own 800m national record to 1:44.96, becoming the first Indian to dip under 1:45.
• Afsal had initially broken the seven-year-old 800m record with a 1:45.61 finish in May at the UAE Athletics Grand Prix before improving it in Poland.
• Both athletes credit sustained exposure to elite European meets for driving the personal improvements that have elevated India’s sprint and middle-distance standards.