Asian Athletics Championships: After rain, Jyothi Yarraji storms to gold – ‘In so many years, I have not shouted with joy after a race'

Indian Express

5 days ago

A two-hour delay to the start of the women's 100 metre hurdles final, a storm that forced athletes to warm up in a storage room next to the track, a headwind, and a cold night. Before the race finally took place at around 10:20 pm local time in Gumi, South Korea, India's Jyothi Yarraji was visualising a strong start and how she would cross each of the hurdles. 'I started visualising in case physically it does not work for me in the race, then mentally I can (push). I thought of being in the starting block, thought of crossing each and every hurdle. Everything I visualised more than 10 times,' Jyothi said.
When the gun went off, Japan's Yumi Tanaka and China's Yanni Wu, running in the lane beside her, got off to better starts. Being taller than most competitors in Asia, flying off the blocks is not Jyothi's strength. But once she finds her rhythm during the race, she hits her stride till the finish line. By the eighth hurdle, Jyothi had caught up with Tanaka and Wu and then powered through to the finish line to defend her Asian Championships title by stopping the clock at 12.96 seconds, a championship record. Tanaka was second and Wu third.
'I was a little stressed. Would I do well? My body was cold, I couldn't warm up properly. But when I reached the finish line, I felt nobody was near me. In so many years, I have not shouted with joy after a race. Two or three times I have shouted in despair, but this time I shouted with happiness,' Jyothi said.
The final was initially scheduled for 6:25 pm but was rescheduled to 8:25 pm because of overnight rains. There was a further delay after the skies opened on Thursday evening: 10:25 pm was the new start time.
'I started the warm-up a little early because I wanted a longer warm-up. It rained continuously. And after some time, the officials came and said that it was going to be 10.25 pm. There was a delay of 2 hours. So, I started thinking about how positive I could be,' Jyothi said. Warming up in a 10-metre storage area was tough because, according to Jyothi 'even walking was difficult' as it was packed with athletes. 'I tried to do as much as I could. And being brave at this time would be good.'
Thursday's final was Jyothi's first sub-13-second race of the season. The 25-year-old national record holder had minor setbacks in the build-up to the Asian Championships. She needs a few competitions to hit her stride because she is a 'rhythmic runner'. Plans to compete abroad were hit because of a hamstring injury during training in the first week of April. She also tweaked her technique, reverting to eight strides for more frequency between hurdles after opting for seven last year. Ahead of the Championships, she was just thankful she was fit with no major aches or pains.
Jyothi's coach James Hillier, the athletics director at Reliance Foundation, gave Jyothi a clear race plan on Thursday. 'What I said to her was just be close to the girls by the eighth hurdle and then 100 percent of the time you are going to win. It was a tough field, two very good girls but she showed she was a class act. It wasn't about times today, it was about racing,' Hillier said.
Jyothi's national record is 12:78 seconds but she needs to clock 12:73 to qualify for the world championships. The physical shape Jyothi is in, gives Hillier the belief that she could touch 12.60s this year. 'She is in better shape than when she equalled her national record last year. She's stronger and leaner and the body fat percentage is lower than it's ever been,' Hillier said.
The coach believes that Jyothi is 'one of the best if not the best hurdler in the world over the last three hurdles'. His aim is now to get her to attack the rest of the hurdles. It starts with a faster rhythm into the first hurdle. 'That is important for Jyothi because what you saw in that race is that once she got to hurdle five, she is in her race rhythm, she just comes flying through the field. I am trying to get her into the race rhythm earlier and that is what she finds hard to do. I am playing around with the eight strides and trying to get the fast rhythm into the first hurdle and into the second and the third. It is a work in progress. She is always going to be better in the back end of the race,' the coach explained.
The hamstring injury last month also setback Jyothi by three weeks. 'Speed is there and strength is there but the hurdling isn't quite there yet,' Hillier said.
There was a sub-plot in the final, too. Wu, who finished third in Gumi, was the athlete who had a false start at the 2022 Asian Games, resulting in a controversy that saw Jyothi too get disqualified before officials allowed them to run pending a review. On that famous night, Wu, who finished second, was eventually disqualified; Jyothi's bronze was upgraded to silver. Before Thursday's final, Wu smiled and flexed her biceps. But it was Jyothi who prevailed again, this time by winning gold.