Indian Athletics Thread ...

[SaniaFan]

If you see neeraj before Tokyo Olympics, he used to run faster than he is now. That momentum used to help him to hurl to the distances he could. Now a days he his running much slower and he attributes this to his groin issue. But still he is managing same distances because of improvement in technique and strength. He still manages to to pick medals everywhere. I think his surgery during the off season would enable him to regain that sprint and possibly push this throws beyond 90m. I have a feeling that once he starts throwing 90m his consistency would be like Johannes Vetter where he'll be doing that in almost all events.

[Prem]

Watched it live on TV. Neeraj was trailing at 4th place after 4 rounds.
Needed to be in top 3 with his 5th throw to be in top 3.
Only the top 3 get another opportunity with a 6th throw!!
Neeraj came up with 85.58 M with his 5th throw to squeeze in 3rd place
In the last throw, Anderson Peters who was leading with 88.49 M went first and did an Arshad to throw 90.61 M!!!
Julian Weber went next and couldn’t improve on his 87.08 M
Last throw was of Neeraj. He gave it his all and threw his Seasons Best of 89.49 M to land the Silver
Neeraj didn’t foul any of his 6 throws here and kept his best for the last 2 throws.
Now, Neeraj should get fully fit after the Diamond league commitments and I am sure he will breach 90 M after that.

[prasen9]

A nice article by Anirudh Menon ESPN article

[sameerph]

Avinash Sable will be taking part in Silesia Diamond League tonight.

[ankit1407]

Finished 14th with - 8:29.. pretty poor performance from him given his NR earlier this year was 8:09.. in Paris Olympics he ran around 8:14…

[arjun2761]

Yes, his WR is 13th, his top performance is 14th best, so he is solidly in the 12-15th group. Not a medal threat at any event in which all the top contenders are there.

[sameerph]

Our poor performances in Athletics continue in world junior championships too which is currently going on in Lima, Peru.

At the last world championships, we won 3 medals and some really good performances.

This time after 3 days, only couple of decent performances, our mixed 4 x 400 M relay team finished 5th and Jay Kumar reached the final in 400M men with a PB of 46.96s. Good to see someone reach a track final in men.

But, other than many others have performed well below their PB and SB.

[sameerph]

Another good performance by Pooja with new national under 20 record of 1.83M in womens high jump to qualify for the final.

[pancakesdonuts]

Pooja is surely the next big name in Indian Athletics. Her career trajectory has been really good. In 2023 (aged 16), she won gold at Asian u18 and silver at Asian u20. She won gold at Indian senior nationals and national games. She already made her debut at Asian Championship (7th) and Asian games (6th). In 2024, she was absent for the first 6 months. I assume it must due to board exams. Now, she broke U20nr and qualified for the finals at U20 World Championships. Surely, she doesn't have a chance to medal here but she can break her PB once more. She is one of the 3 participants born in 2007 qualified for finals. She surely has a chance to medal at next u20 worlds.

[sameerph]

Yes, Pooja appears really talented jumping 1.83M at just 17. I am only skeptical because many of our good long jumpers just stagnated at a certain level like say Tajswin Shankar. Hope Pooja changes that.

In the meantime, we won our first medal at this world championships. Arati wins bronze at women's 10 KM race walk with a new National U20 record of 44:39.39.

[sameerph]

Our 4x 400 M mens relay team qualified for the final with under national record time of 3:08.10 finishing second in their heat behind Japan.

Overall, we had third best time behind USA and Japan. So, we may have a medal chance here.

[jayakris]

^^^ You mean junior NR time, so it is a new Junior NR?

[sameerph]

Yes, I missed tying under 20 national record.

[usaindia]

[arjun2761]

Neeraj finishes second in the Diamond League final at Brussels by 1cm to Anderson Peters with a modest 87.86 m throw. Julian Webber was third.

Sable was the second to last finisher in the 3000 m steeple chase.