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Hindustan Times
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Animesh Kujur's ambition – run 100m in under 10 seconds
New Delhi: Animesh Kujur is a confident young man. From his Lightning Bolt celebrations to proclamations, he oozes the kind of belief that is rarely seen among Indian athletes. Kujur though lives in the fast lane. Not world standard fast, but quick enough to hold your attention. Animesh Kujur clocked a 100m national record of 10.18 seconds at the Dromia International Sprint and Relays meet in Vari, Greece. (Reliance Foundation) Last weekend, the 22-year-old clocked a 100m national record of 10.18 seconds at the Dromia International Sprint and Relays meet in Vari, Greece. Running in the B Final, he edged out Greece's Sotirios Garagganis (10.23secs) and Finland's Samuli Samuelsson (10.28secs), at the World Athletics Continental Tour silver level meet. He bettered the national mark held by his relay teammate Gurindervir Singh (10.20secs). Gurindervir's record lasted less than four months, a testimony to the competition and promise Indian men's sprints hold. Kujur though is not over the moon. '10.18secs is not that great a time,' he says. 'It's good, but not worth celebrating. I know I can do better. And I will do better this year itself. Aap dekhna (wait and see).' The confidence stems from training and a realisation that he has the gift of genetics as well as speed. A bit of technical refinement, he is confident, will help get closer to running under 10 secs. 'Everyone keeps asking me about that. To go sub-10 and sub-20 (in 200m) are my ultimate goals, but it won't happen overnight. Considering that I started competing only a few years back, I am sure I've the potential to do much better,' he says. To realise his goal, however, a process needs to come to fruition, and for that Kujur has been camping in Magglingen Sportzentrum in Bern, Switzerland for close to two weeks. Training under Reliance Foundation coach Martin Owens and strength and bobsleigh performance coach Chris Woolley, Kujur has been honing his start to shave off those milliseconds. 'It's been an amazing experience. The technical insights have been superb and I can feel the difference already,' he says. Owens is also delighted. 'We can certainly squeeze a couple of 100 (milliseconds) just by correcting his block position and angle of the block,' he says. The positioning of blocks depends on the length of an athlete's limbs while the angle of the first and second blocks are considered optimum at 45 and 55 degrees respectively. Woolley has introduced Kujur to many lower body routines for strengthening without compromising on flexibility. He figured that Kujur's hamstring and lower back were not flexible enough, costing crucial momentum at the start. 'I spend a lot of time with Chris in the gym and he has been very patient with me. I don't even know the names of some of the machines. The technology here is quite something,' Kujur says. 'If 10 days of training with him can make such a difference, imagine what a month will do,' adds Kujur, whose previous best 100m timing was 10. secs. Kujur will next run in the U-23 section at the Monaco Diamond League (July 11) followed by Spitzen Leichtathletik in Lucerne, Switzerland (July 15). He will then leave for Germany on July 19 for the World University Games. In all these meets, he will compete only in the 200m. 'It is my pet event and I aim to better my mark,' says Kujur, whose 200m national record is 20.32 secs. He was part of the quartet that holds the 4x100m relay national record. 'I always knew I was the fastest man in India. Now I have the timing to show,' he says. The secret of Kujur's success, Owens says, lies in his mindset. 'He doesn't chase time or medals. He just wants to improve. He is what I call intrinsically motivated.' The coach's next step for Kujur is to get him to run the 200m in 20.16 secs, which would see him qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September. 'We are working a lot on stuff – speed, endurance, top-end speed, curve running, running off the bend. He's got a good training group as well. He has all the makings of a track superstar,' Owens adds.
Indian Express
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Animesh Kujur's Cool Runnings mark of 10.18 seconds, comes after working with renowned bobsleigh coach Chris Wolley
In a reverse of the movie plot of Cool Runnings where Jamaican sprinters turn into a bobsled team, India's brand new 100m track sensation Animesh Kujur availed the expertise of a bobsleigh coach, ahead of his momentous dipping under the 10.2 second mark for a 10.18s national record. While Indian fans were soaking in the excellence of their greatest individual Olympian at the Neeraj Chopra Classic in Bengaluru, another historic moment was unfolding in a quiet suburb of Greece, as Kujur became the fastest Indian man. Participating in the Dromia International Sprint and Relays meet in Vari, Greece, Animesh won the second final of the men's 100m and overall clocked the third best timing behind Benjamin Richardson (South Africa) who ran in 10.01s and Ali Al Balushi (Oman) who clocked 10.12. But it was what the sprinter did in the months leading up to this breakthrough, that riffs off the famous Jamaican tale. Animesh worked on his strength and conditioning with Chris Wolley – a renowned coach of winter Olympics sport, Bobsleigh. Martin Owens, coach of Animesh at Reliance Foundation, told The Indian Express from Greece, about how the association came about. 'One thing I have realized that a lot of technical improvements happen in the gym and with the physio. We worked with Chris at the Swiss Olympic Center and it paid off. He worked on movement patterns of Animesh when he starts and how he can be more dynamic while taking initial strides,' Owens mentioned. 'The initial strides sets him up for a better race. The first couple of strides aren't always as fast as they can be but they are better mechanically for setting him up for the race. So, we have worked on those first two strides,' he explained the technical adjustment. A post shared by RF Youth Sports (@rfyouthsports) // The work done has certainly paid off as Animesh shaved off nearly 0.09 seconds from his previous personal best of 10.27s which he clocked last year in Spain. He also ran 2.27s in 200m last month at Geneve Meet, fastest ever 200m by an Indian, but the timing was not counted, due to illegal windspeed of +2.3m/s Even as they head back to Switzerland pretty knackered, coach Owens was a happy man. 'I am elated at the National record for sure. It was a long day for us and now we are flying back but the timing he clocked makes it all worth it,' Owens said, audibly exhausted. The 22-year-old comes from the tribal Ghuitangar village of Kunkuri tehsil in Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh. Kujur rewrote the previous national record of 10.20s in 100m which was clocked by Gurindervir Singh at Indian Grand Prix earlier this March 2025. Racing in the second final of the men's 100, Kujur didn't start quick but shifted gears in the final 40m and a final push near the finish line resulted in him pipping the Greek runner Sotirios Garagganis to the finish line. 'I thought he ran a great race. He didn't give away anything in the first 10 or 20 meters, held his shape through the middle of the race, and finished perfectly at the end. It is due to the competition he gets here,' Owens said. 'In India, when he gets in the top speed, he is faster than everybody else. However, here everybody was matching him and he didn't panic in the end. If he would have been in the third final (where Benjamin and Balushi raced), he would have ended with a better timing,' he explained of the pacing dynamic further. The Indian group of sprinters — Animesh Kujur, Lalu Bhoi, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Gurindervir Singh, and Jayaram Dondapati — are on a European sojourn to participate in the World Athletics continental meets and also improve their timings. 'We are looking at him and the other sprinters to go faster on this tour. It is important to have quality competitions where the participants keep pushing each other,' said Owens. Besides training with the Winter Olympian coach, another reason that resulted in Animesh going faster is the conducive environment for sprint in Greece. 'We were afraid in morning as the tailwinds were very strong and it looked like we might get a good time but won't see the national record,' Owens said. 'However, as the evening came on, the winds dropped and the red&white wind sock that indicates the wind direction was barely moving and as the timings came, it was a satisfying race overall,' he added. When asked what's next for Animesh on the European tour, Owens confirmed that he will be racing at the Monaco Diamond League in the men's U23 200m race on 11th July. 'We are heading back to Switzerland for now and will rest. Animesh will race at the Monaco Diamond League. It is the U23 race for up and coming sprinters. A good initiative which will help someone like Animesh,' Owens said. The U23 Men's 200m at the Monaco Diamond League will be part of the one day programme and serve as the pre competition race for the men's 200m which will witness the Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in action. It will be a great chance for Animesh, who also rewrote the 200m national record twice in the year, to have shared field with the best in the world. As of the now, with both 100m and 200m national records to his, Animesh has definitely earned the right to be called the fastest man in the country.
