Latest news with #Hillier
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Faster, fitter Jyothi conquers conditions to court Asian glory
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.
News18
29-05-2025
- Sport
- News18
Coach plans technical tweaks for Jyothi to enhance her start phase
Last Updated: New Delhi, May 29 (PTI) Coach James Hillier believes Jyothi Yarraji is 'one of the best in the world" in the final three hurdles, but is now planning to fine-tune her technique to help her attack the first five more aggressively. The 25-year-old, an Asian Games silver medallist, clocked 12.96 seconds — a new championship record — to defend her 100m hurdles title at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Thursday. Hillier said training adjustments focusing on shorter and longer strides approaching the first hurdle would be introduced to enhance her start phase. 'Now, it's about being more specific with the training we do. So, we'll start doing a lot more work over two or three hurdles. I'll do some work where I'll maybe do some shorter approach work into the first hurdle," he told reporters. 'So, maybe like six-stride work, and then I'll go the other way and do some 10-stride work. So, she gets a feeling then of going over the hurdle even quicker than eight strides because she's got an extra two strides to work on. 'So, these are some of the little subtle things that we can do to get the feeling. The job is all about feeling. So, if I can create training sessions where she's able to get the feeling she wants, once she's done it, once she can repeat it, that's just how she is as an athlete." The Indian athlete will next be seen in action at the Taiwan Athletics Open scheduled for June 7-8. 'So, that's the sort of things that I'll be working on now over the next few weeks. We've got another competition coming up next week in Taiwan, and then we'll head back to India. We'll have a few weeks in India just doing some prep, and then we'll head to Europe." 'So, I think by the time we get to Europe, I'll be pretty confident that she'll be sort of attacking these first five hurdles a bit quicker, and then that'll set everything up even more for the back end of the race. She's always going to be better at the back end of the race." Hillier said the aim is to get Yarraji in touch with the front-runners by the halfway mark so that her strong finish can be more effective. 'That's the sort of athlete she is. But she can be in touch with athletes at hurdle five, hurdle six. I think she's probably one of the best, if not the best hurdler in the world in the last three hurdles. She's absolutely phenomenal. 'But if we can just get her in touch with the real top girls, and hopefully we can get some really good meets now after this, then we can test that out as well. So, yeah, work to do. It's always nice to get a gold medal and still have loads of work to do. So, that's bode well for the next few races." He added that the target during the final was not the qualifying time for the World Championships (12.73s), but simply winning the race. 'No, the world championship mark absolutely wasn't (the target). It wasn't about timing today. It was about positions. It was about racing. the tracks, I think a bit slow as well. It was just about trying to win, that was really the goal." 'She was very much focusing on her own race, but she was trying to win. She showed her experience because when the delays were happening, we could see the other girls were getting a bit frustrated and all the rest of it. And Jyothi just dealt with it really well." Hillier was happy that his ward could clock a sub-13 timing. Advertisement 'It was nice she got under 13 in those conditions. Definitely bodes well to her running, 12.73 and qualifying for world. So yeah, it was a good performance and I think better condition, she would have run probably 12.73 today," he added. Yarraji had suffered a hamstring injury in April after overreaching a hurdle in training, forcing her out for three weeks ahead of the Federation Cup and limiting her preparation time. Hillier said the victory in Gumi was significant, especially since Yarraji is not yet in peak condition. top videos View All 'We've had a funny preparation for this because she had an injury going into Federation Cup … she's definitely not in an absolute peak at the moment. She's hit training PBs, but not sort of race training PBs. So, the speed is there, the strength is there, but the hurdling isn't quite there yet. 'So, I would expect her to push on from this now and the confidence she's got from this is obviously massive. And yeah, we've got a bit of work to do with the eight stride still. So, yeah, it's the rest of the season is going to be very exciting for sure." PTI ATK KHS (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) First Published: May 29, 2025, 23:15 IST News agency-feeds Coach plans technical tweaks for Jyothi to enhance her start phase
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Amlan eyes relay gold at Asian Athletics
There were high hopes from Amlan Borgohain after the Assam sprinter broke the 200m national record in 2022 and followed it up by running 100m in 10.25 seconds. But he failed to keep up the good show in 2023 that also included sixth-place finish in the 200m final at Asian Games. It was a tough pill to swallow but what happened a month later was something that would bruise him for life. Amlan's mother — his biggest supporter and inspiration — who was undergoing dialysis for some months, passed away. Then two months later in January 2024, he suffered an injury during a practice session that made things even worse. But 2025 holds a lot of promise for the Assam sprinter not only because he has done well personally but he was also part of the 4x100m relay team that broke the national record during Indian Open Relay Competition in April with a time of 38.69 seconds. The quartet of Borgohain, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur and Manikanta Hoblidhar will now be hoping to repeat their feat during Asian Athletics Championships from May 27-31 in Gumi, Republic of Korea. "We want to win gold there but it will be very tough because in order to do that we will have to pass around the baton perfectly," said the sprinter during an exclusive interaction with TOI. It's actually not an unrealistic aim considering the South Korean men's team won the bronze in 4x100m relay during the Asian Games in 2023 with a timing of 38.74 seconds. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like IIT Delhi AI Programme IITD TAILP Apply Now Undo But as athletics director with Reliance Foundation James Hillier also said, the team will have to perfect the art of passing the baton in order to finish on the podium and they have been practicing that under his watchful eyes during the training camp in Mumbai over the past few weeks. While Hillier has been more than pleased with their performance, what he is happiest about is how Borgohain has made a comeback from his injury. "The injury happened because he was running too fast too soon. He got himself into brilliant shape and just did one rep too many, and the body just wasn't quite ready for that level of intensity. So he hurt his hamstring," he said. "It was a bit unfortunate but he's over it now and he's healthy now. And he's definitely back in the zone." Besides the injury, Hillier is well aware that the loss of his mother was also tough on Borgohain but as he said, he is finally able to get things 'straight'. "It takes time. You don't have to rush the process. But I might have rushed it a bit since last year was the Olympic year and I was in the rankings," said Borgohain before adding, "So it took me a long time and I'm still processing it. But I think I almost got my things straight. My training and everything is going great. Now I have to figure out my competition part." While time has played a big role, what have also helped are his teammates. As the sprinter said he and Hoblidhar are almost like brothers. And they trust each other and have their backs. And hopefully it's just what they will need come next week to finish on the podium.
The Hindu
23-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
EXPLAINED: How precision in the Exchange Zone can power India's sprint relay surge
Nothing unnerves a track coach more than a baton exchange in a sprint relay. You could have the fastest runners at your disposal, but even a slightly flawed handover can spell disaster for a relay team. For Indian sprint coach James Hillier, however, the three 30-metre baton exchange zones on a 100m relay track aren't looming pitfalls. He sees them as fast-moving windows of opportunity — zones that could launch his team into the world's elite. Under his guidance, the Indian men's 4x100m relay team — comprising Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain — broke the national record while representing Reliance at the National Relay Carnival in Chandigarh in April. Their time of 38.69 seconds now places them among Asia's best. But to progress further, Hillier and his athletes have little in terms of immediate gains — except how they exploit the baton exchange zone. 'The most critical part of the relay is the speed at which the baton moves through the box. If someone isn't brave coming into the box, the outgoing runner can't push out hard enough. All our changeovers in Chandigarh were very safe — we played it safe because I wanted them to get the record, to make a statement,' said Hillier, Athletics Director at Reliance Foundation, in a conversation with Sportstar. 'What you want is to exchange the baton towards the end of the box. That's the fastest method, because the outgoing runner has been accelerating longer and is moving faster.' Pushing the limits of the exchange zone increases the risk of disqualification, but it's a trade-off Hillier and his team are willing to make. 'We're working on giving the runners the confidence to take the baton in the last 10 metres of the zone. That brings the time down significantly. As the chemistry builds and they improve, I want those exchanges to happen closer to the end of the box.' Simple in theory, complex in execution. Four sprinters, running at full tilt, in a high-pressure environment. Hillier is under no illusions. 'Putting the baton in the hand isn't the issue. The critical thing is timing the run-out. Most relay errors happen because athletes leave too early. They get excited. When you see someone coming in fast, it's intimidating. You fear not getting out fast enough, so you end up going early.' Hillier has adjusted the baton exchange, starting with the outgoing runners' start position. The Indian team no longer uses the three-point start — a crouched stance with two feet and one hand on the track — because Hillier believes it impairs depth perception and causes miscued acceleration. Another key change involves the mark, a tape placed in the exchange zone to cue the outgoing runner's acceleration. 'I have asked them [outgoing runner] not to focus on the chest of the incoming runner, but on his feet. They have to imagine a small circle around that marking tape, and when the incoming runner's foot lands in that circle, that's when they have to set off,' explains Hillier. Under Hillier, India's sprinters have also made strides individually. Four of the six fastest 100m timings by Indian men belong to this quartet. Gurindervir set a new national record of 10.20 seconds in March. Three of the four — Gurindervir, Manikanta, and Animesh — are under 25. Still, expecting any of them to break the 10-second barrier may be unrealistic, given how marginal gains become at the elite level. Yet Hillier believes India can break the 38-second barrier even without a sub-10 runner. 'To estimate a relay time, you add the four individual 100m times and subtract between 2.1 and 3.0 seconds. A 2.4-second differential is good; 3.2 is exceptional. Right now, our team has a 2.4-second differential. In the 2010 national record (38.89), it was 2.81. 'I had predicted 38.62 even with poor exchanges. So, the 38.69 they ran suggests the exchanges weren't great. With excellent exchanges, they could run 37.82. If they matched the exchange efficiency of the 2010 team, they'd be at 38.2.' Apart from striving to meet their coach's standards, the Indian relay team is also chasing history. India's last medal in the men's 4x100m relay at the Asian Athletics Championships came in 1979. To find a medal at the Asian Games itself, you have to go even further back, to 1970. That drought could end soon. The 38.69-second effort would have secured India a podium finish at every Asian Games and AAC over the past decade — and even a gold medal at three of the last seven AACs. Since 2024, only Japan, China, and South Korea have clocked faster relay times among Asian nations. Notably, Japan and China were Olympic finalists in Paris. Still, Hillier (left) isn't interested in burdening his athletes with expectations. 'Of course we want to win a medal. But we can't go in expecting it. In athletics, the moment you start expecting, things often don't go to plan. We need to make it happen. 'The key is to stay focused. We can't let excitement get in the way. We have to get in and out of the exchange box at the right time.' But at the global level, the gap is wider. Indian sprinters would need to trim nearly a second off their collective timing to contend for a medal at the World Championships or the Olympics. Their next big target is the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, but the road is steep. India missed the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, which offered 14 of the 16 direct qualification spots for the Worlds. Jamaica, which missed out on qualifying in Guangzhou, is likely to claim one of the two remaining slots through the top season-best list. For India to claim the last spot, it must at least better the Netherlands' season-best of 38.20 seconds. For Hillier, even this ambitious goal feels within reach — because of the progress already made. 'It's been a real challenge to get here — to convince people that Indian sprinters are good enough, that they can compete, and even win medals — not just in Asia but potentially at the world level. 'We've had to swim against the tide, against the idea that India doesn't have the athletes for a sprint relay. That mindset is changing. And that's crucial.'
The Hindu
30-04-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Gurindervir, Animesh, Manikanta, Amlan's 4x100m national record will be broken multiple times this season: James Hillier
In a little over the course of a month, three Indian National sprint records have been rewritten in the record books. On March 28, Gurindervir Singh broke the Indian 100m record. Animesh Kujur then shattered the 200m record at the Federation Cup on April 24. On Wednesday, at the Sector 7 stadium in Chandigarh, it was the turn of the Indian 4x100m record, set in 2010 -- it was the oldest standing Indian men's track record -- to fall. Amlan Borgohain, Manikanta Hoblidar, Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh, representing Reliance Sports Foundation, stormed to victory in the Indian National Relay Competition in a time of 38.69, slashing 2/10ths of a second off the previous mark of 38.89 set by the Indian team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. READ: National Open Relay Carnival: Gurindervir, Animesh, Manikanta, Amlan set new National Record in 4x100m All records might have fallen to athletes training with Reliance Sports Foundation coaches -- Animesh trains with Martin Owens in Odisha, while the other three train with athletics director James Hillier in Mumbai -- but Hillier says the relay mark might be the one that's most satisfying. 'I think the 4x100m record is a hugely symbolic one. It's one thing to get records in individual events like the 100m and 200m. But to get it in a relay means you have four runners who are really good and running at the same time with great chemistry,' he says. For Hillier, who has been working in India since 2019, the relay record is proof that his program is starting to deliver results. 'I've been talking about India having a sprint revolution for a while now, but you have to back these words with actions and results. Now we are seeing results. We had broken the 100-200m records, and now we have the 4x100m record. I think the momentum we are developing is massive. I think people are going to start having to take notice of Indian sprinting now,' he says. Much of the credit Hillier gives for the team's success is the fact that there is a group of high-quality sprinters training at the same base in Mumbai and constantly driving each other in both the training hall and competition. Indeed, the 100m record that Gurindervir broke belonged to Manikanta, while the 200m record, now in the name of Animesh, was once held by Amlan. 'Everyone is just constantly pushing each other,' says Hillier. According to Hillier, the fact that all three records have come as early in the season as they have suggests that the timings will only improve as his athletes prepare for bigger competitions in the season. The relay team, in particular, hadn't even trained a complete relay session together. 'We aren't anywhere near our best. We have been running constantly in the past few weeks. We only had one relay practice before this race (in Chandigarh). Gurindervir wasn't even part of that because he was competing in Iran. This is the first race we have run and we ended up breaking the national record by 2/10ths of a second, which is massive in sprint events,' he says. The team could have broken the record twice over. Despite running conservatively in the morning heat on the advice of their coach, they finished 0.04 seconds faster than the old record. 'Because we were running for the first time, I told them to run hard but to keep the baton exchanges nice and safe. I wanted them to have a sensible race so that they could build their confidence. And when we saw that we nearly got the record in the morning's race, we had the belief we could get it in the final,' says Hillier. Hillier says the team identified simple areas to improve on after the heats, and that gave them an improvement of 2/10ths of a second in the final. Target Asian medal The fact that such a dramatic improvement of the record was possible after just minor tweaks in a squad that was running together for the first time means the quartet can get even faster. 'They could have run even faster. There are loads of areas they can improve. These boys can be looking at running in the low-38 seconds and potentially even in the 37-second range. There is a huge room for improvement,' says Hillier. While anything in the low-38-second range will take time to accomplish, there are milestones that are well within reach. A time of 38.69 seconds would have been enough to place on the podium at any Asian Games (bronze at the 2022 edition went to South Korea with a time of 38.74), potentially putting the Indian squad in sight of their first medal in the event since the 1970 Asian Games over half-a-century ago. The first step towards that goal will come at the Asian Championships in May. James Hillier poses with Amlan Borgohain (right) and Jyothi Yarraji. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement 'When we go to the Asian Championships, I think we have a realistic chance of winning a medal in the relay. I don't think anyone would have believed that was a possibility even last year. I don't want to put the team under any pressure but it is a clear possibility,' says Hillier. Anything like the time they ran in Chandigarh should mean Hillier's squad returns with a medal. But Hillier wouldn't want his boys to think beyond that. He's already told them he expects better timings. 'I told them to enjoy this moment but that it's only the start for us,' he says. As his athletes run more and more races this year, Hillier expects their timings to get better not only in the relay but also in the sprints. 'I think we have a very high window for improvement in the 100m and the relay in particular. In the short term, we will be looking to improve in the relay. We have four weeks until the Asian Championships and we will be working on our exchanges to make things really sharp by then. But, I think we will be improving in all our sprint results this year. These records that we are setting will be broken multiple times this season,' he says.
