Historic day for Indian athletics: Gurindervir breaks 100m record, Vishal runs under 45, Tejaswin crosses 8000 points

Gurindervir Singh of Punjab (PTI Photo) Indian athletics witnessed a historic night at the National Senior Federation Competition on Saturday as Gurindervir Singh broke the men’s 100m national record in a sensational 10.09 seconds while Vishal TK became the first ever Indian to clock sub-45 seconds in the 400m. An action-packed second day also saw Tejaswin Shankar rewrite history in the decathlon as he became the first Indian to cross the 8000 points mark. Gurindervir, representing the Reliance Foundation, produced a standout moment of the match in the men’s 100m final. The Punjab sprinter crossed the finish line in 10.09 seconds, becoming the first Indian athlete to break the 10.10 second mark. His effort is now the second-fastest time recorded by an Asian this season, behind only Japanese sprinter Fukuto Komura, who clocked 10.08 seconds earlier this year. The 100m competition turned into a dramatic showdown between Gurindervir and Animesh Kujur over two days. Gurindervir first lowered the national record to 10.17 seconds in Friday’s semi-final, but Animesh regained it a few minutes later with a 10.15 second effort. However, Gurindervir produced an even faster ride in Saturday’s final, finishing comfortably ahead of Animesh to secure a landmark national record. The timing also comfortably beat the Athletics Federation of India Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 10.16 seconds. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s Vishal produced another historic performance in the men’s 400m final. The 22-year-old clocked 44.98 seconds to become the first Indian athlete to complete a one-lap race under 45 seconds. Vishal caught the eye already last year after breaking the national record in 45.12 seconds in Chennai, but he raised the bar further on Saturday with a performance that now tops the Asian season rankings. His time broke the previous Asian leading mark of 45.16 seconds held by Ammar Ismail Ibrahim and also helped him clear the AFI 2026 Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 44.96 seconds. Tamil Nadu runner Rajesh Ramesh finished second in 45.31 seconds while Uttar Pradesh athlete Jay Kumar claimed third place with a time of 45.47 seconds. The historic day did not end there. Asian Games silver medalist Tejaswin Shankar has added another milestone to Indian athletics by becoming the country’s first athlete to cross the 8000 points mark in the decathlon. Tejaswin, who competes for Reliance Foundation, amassed 8057 points in the 10-event event, beating his previous national record of 7947 points set last year. This result also took him seventh on the all-time Asian decathlon list.