Federation Cup 2024: Sprinter by chance, Animesh Kujur eager to give Olympic qualification a shot

A friend’s advice, an unexpected result and a leap of faith later – all in two-and-a-half years – Animesh Kujur has become the second-fastest Indian sprinter of all time in 200m.

The 20-year-old Animesh, representing Odisha, fell just a tenth of a second short of matching Amlan Borgohain’s National Record of 20.52s during the 27th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition at the Kalinga Stadium on Monday.

Running in the fifth lane, Animesh took the lead at the halfway stage. While Andhra Pradesh’s Nalubothu Shanumaga (20.97) did try to put up a fight from Lane 3, Animesh pulled away eventually for a comfortable win.

“Earlier, when I used to run 200m, my start was not good. I knew if I could make the start better, I will get closer to the National Record,” said Animesh.

Animesh wasn’t into athletics from the beginning. Hailing from Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh, he is the son of parents who are both in the police. “They used to play sports during their university days. Father used to play football (played up to all-India university level) and mother used to play basketball (college level). In my childhood, my father gave me a football. I used to just dribble, dribble and dribble,” he said

Even till he passed out of Sainik School in his hometown, he majorly played football, as a forward, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. “I passed out of school and the next day, the lockdown happened. I thought what would I do now? But my parents did not stop me from going out. I used to jog with my army school friends which went on for a year. Then, my friend told me about a State Athletics meet that was about to happen,” said the gold medallist.

Animesh, who had taken part in only one U-18 meet till then, reveals that he learnt the proper way to start a 200m race one day before the event. Wearing normal shoes rather than spikes, he won the 200m race at the 2021 West Zone Junior Athletics Championship in Raipur with a timing of 22.31s.

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“I also qualified for the nationals where I finished fifth in both 100m and 200m. From there, my parents told me to go ahead since they saw a future for me in this,” said the 20-year-old.

In 2022, he took part in the National Open U-23 Championships in Bilaspur and won the 200m race in 21.12s. It was at this meet that he took a leap of faith and met his present-day coach Martin Owens. “I had never spoken to a foreigner before. So, I gathered the courage to go and ask him if he would train me,” he said.

“I did not know who he was but I went to ask him because I noticed he was a foreigner. I did not know his name,” he added.

Owens is the Head Coach at the Reliance Foundation Youth Sport Odisha High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar. “I was scared how I would talk to him but he was very friendly. He told me that he saw my race and physique and said they’ll prepare me and make me a world-level athlete,” the sprinter said.

Animesh Kujur (2nd from right) of Odisha winning the men’s 200m final at the 27th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition, in Bhubaneswar.
| Photo Credit:
DEEPAK KR/ The Hindu

Like Animesh, Owens also stressed about working on how he starts a race. “We worked on his start a lot. That was a bit of an Achilles’ heel last year. He has worked incredibly well on his mobility. He has always been fast when he is moving. We’re just trying to get him to move faster early,” said the coach.

While the foundation has worked on his nutrition, the strongly built Animesh revealed he also developed strength from “the punishments they gave at Army School.” 

Animesh went sub-21 for the first time at last year’s Federation Cup. At the same event this year, he clocked a new personal best of 20.62s. He plans to compete in a few races in Europe before coming back for the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in June.

While the entry standard for the Paris Olympics – 20.18s – is still a fair bit away, the 20-year-old is not ruling out further improvement in such a short span of time. “I have to qualify for the Olympics. I just want to go closer and closer to that time. It is my target. I have one and a half month (to achieve that). I will try my best,” he said.