Faster, fitter Jyothi conquers conditions to court Asian glory

Hindustan Times

4 days ago

New Delhi: Jyothi Yarraji is not known for explosive starts. The 25-year-old typically begins steady and surges in the latter half of the race. It's not the most conventional rhythm, but it has served India's top hurdler well.
Sticking to her familiar strategy at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Thursday, Yarraji clinched gold in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.96s, breaking the Championship record held by China's Yun Feng (12.97s) since 1998. Japan's Yumi Tanaka and China's Wu Yanni, both clocking 13.07s, followed. Yarraji was the only athlete to dip below 13 seconds in the cold and wet conditions.
Starting in Lane 7, she was slow off the blocks and remained in the bottom two until the fifth hurdle. Then, her trademark acceleration kicked in. She breezed past her competitors, surged into the lead at the eighth hurdle, and crossed the finish line in top gear. Her roar of celebration soon followed.
'I don't usually shout in happiness. I've shouted in sadness before, but this celebration was a first,' she said. Her vocal celebration reflected the significance of the moment for Yarraji, who is coming off a hamstring strain that disrupted her training last month.
She had entered the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition in Kochi—a mandatory qualifier for Asian Championships—far from peak fitness, yet won with a time of 13.23s. The Athletics Federation of India's qualifying mark was 13.26s.
Once qualification was secured, Yarraji under the Reliance Foundation's Athletics Director James Hillier, began training for her title defence at the Asian Championships. While track time was limited due to her injury, she focused on strength work in the gym, becoming stronger and leaner. But her race readiness remained uncertain.
'She's faster, fitter, and leaner than before. Her body fat percentage is at its lowest ever. She's hit some PBs in the gym, but I wouldn't say she's completely race-fit. This competition came about three weeks too early for us,' said Hillier.
Besides her recent lack of sub-13s runs—she hadn't clocked one since May 2024—Yarraji also had to contend with the conditions in Gumi. A torrential downpour delayed the final by nearly two hours, forcing her to warm up in a makeshift storage room beside the track.
'We had a horrendous downpour. Just as Jyothi was about to warm up, the heavens opened. A huge thunderstorm hit, temperatures dropped, and the competition was postponed for two hours. She ended up doing warm-ups in a storage room. It was absolutely crazy,' Hillier recalled.
Standing in a cramped 10-meter area with barely enough room to walk, Yarraji began visualising the race. While some competitors grew frustrated, she stayed calm and focused, drawing on her experience.
'I used the delay to visualise—how I'd start off the blocks, how I'd go over the hurdles, everything. I knew if I stayed with the girls after the first few hurdles, I'd have a strong chance of winning. I focused deeply, and didn't let my mind wander,' she said.
Though she didn't have the World Championships qualifying mark of 12.73s in mind, she felt capable of running 12.70s, which would have been a personal best (PB) and a direct ticket to September's Worlds in Tokyo. Her current PB stands at 12.78s.
'Had it not been for the conditions, I would have run 12.70s. That's how good I felt,' she said.
Hillier, however, insisted that they weren't chasing time. 'I just wanted her to run the race. It was freezing, there was a headwind, and the track was a bit slow. The focus was on winning, not on chasing time.'
Yarraji is also set to compete in the 200m at this meet. Afterward, she and Hillier will head to Taipei for the Taiwan Athletics Open, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze event. Once back in India, they'll concentrate on technical training, particularly to improve her early race acceleration.