Flying Sikh 2.0 Gurindervir Singh leaves Anand Mahindra impressed with record performance
Business tycoon Anand Mahindra said Indian sprinting has found a new hero in Gurindervir Singh after the Punjab runner broke the men’s 100m national record twice in two days at the Federation Cup Athletics Championships in Ranchi.
After briefly claiming the record on Friday, Gurindervir returned to the perform a sensational 10.09 second sprint in the finalhe became the first Indian athlete to break the 10.10 second mark. This earned Animesh Kujur a national record and also secured qualification for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.
THEY ALLOW US TO BELIEVE
The performance drew widespread admiration, particularly from industrialist Anand Mahindra, who described Gurindervir’s rise as a symbol of a new era in Indian sprinting and likened the excitement to the legacy of the flying Sikh Milkha Singh.
Noting that the 100m remains the most closely watched event in athletics, he recalled how Jim Hines broke the 10-second mark at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, a milestone that once seemed unattainable for India for decades.
“The idea of a brand new ‘Flying Sikh’ understandably grabbed the headlines last weekend. And perhaps no athletic event takes the world by storm like the 100m sprint. The search for the world’s fastest man. As schoolboys, we watched Jim Hines break the 10-second mark at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. At the time, it was hard to imagine Mahdra making the conversation in India.
“This is why the performances of Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur are so significant. They make us believe we have what it takes to compete at the highest level. The Indian national record was 10:26 only in 2023. We have now moved to 10:09 in a remarkably short time,” wrote Mahindra.
‘THE BIG CHALLENGE AWAITS’
While Gurindervir has set a national record to become India’s fastest man, he is still some way short of Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds. Mahindra praised him, noting that the sprinter is now approaching the world standards needed to succeed at the Olympics, World Championships and other elite competitions.
“I looked online and found that Olympic finalists are usually in the 9.8-9.9 range. World Championship semi-finalists are often around 10.0-10.1. And the Asian/Commonwealth medal match can be around 10.0-10.15 depending on the event,” Mahindra said.
“So Gurindervir now operates on the edge of true international competitiveness. (For perspective, let’s not forget that China’s Su Bingtian ran 9.83 in the semifinals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.) The final frontier, of course, is the mythical sub-10 barrier. One of sport’s rarest achievements.
The idea of a brand new “Flying Sikh” understandably grabbed the headlines last weekend.
And perhaps no race in athletics takes the world by storm like the 100-meter sprint. The search for the fastest man in the world.
As school kids we watched Jim Hines break pic.twitter.com/WsZJJ6lpAh— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 25, 2026
“There’s still a huge challenge ahead. But watching Gurindervir explode out of the blocks and onto the tape was exciting. I’d like to start my week with the same momentum,” added Mahindra.
KUJUR, GURINDERVIR SET HIGH STANDARDS
Outstanding performances by Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur over the past two days have fueled what could become a defining sprint rivalry in Indian athletics, especially as the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games cycle approaches.
The James Hillier-trained Gurindervir Singh and the Martin Owens-led Animesh Kujur combined to propel Indian sprinting into a new era, creating a record-breaking clash.
Indian athletics has been waiting for years for a sprinter to finally break the symbolic mark of 10.10 seconds.
In Ranchi, that long-standing mark not only didn’t fall – it was emphatically broken twice in two memorable days.
– The end
Issued by:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published on:
25 May 2026 16:22 IST
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