Now India’s fastest in 200m, Animesh Kujur aims for sub-20

Out of instinct, Animesh Kujur dipped as he crossed the finish line in the final of the 200m at the Federation Cup at Kochi’s Maharaja College Stadium. He didn’t need to, considering he was several metres ahead of the rest of the field.

But Animesh wasn’t competing with the pack. His sights were set on India’s national record in the 200m. As he sat on his haunches, the digital screen at Kochi’s Maharaja College ground flashed his time:

20.40 seconds.

He had broken the Indian national record, set two years ago, by 0.12 seconds.

It was only after the record was confirmed that the 21-year-old showed a bit of relief and indulged in some showboating, flashing the “lightning bolt” celebration made famous by Usain Bolt. Animesh has a long way to go to match the legendary Jamaican, but he’s well on his way to becoming one of India’s best sprinters.

Over the last couple of years, Animesh has been getting increasingly close to the Indian 200m record. He came close at last year’s Federation Cup, clocking 20.62 seconds, then at the Carlos Gil Perez Memorial in Spain (20.57), the Indian Championships (20.65), and earlier this year at the National Games (20.58).

It was in Kochi that everything came together. He had clocked a time of 10.30 seconds in the 100m earlier in the competition. It wasn’t enough to win gold, but it did show he was in good form. Then, in the 200m heats in the morning, he clocked 20.69, giving him the confidence to go for the record in the evening session.

“I was only running at about 90 per cent in the morning, and I still clocked around 20.6. So, I thought, let me just see what the conditions are like and then go for the record,” he said.

Conditions were perfect for running in the evening, and Animesh was also helped by the presence of former 100m national record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar and the then 200m national record holder Amlan Borgohain in the finals line-up.

“This was one of India’s most competitive 200m races ever. Manikanta pushed Animesh hard and set him up beautifully at the first turn,” says Martin Owens, who coaches Animesh in Odisha as part of the Reliance Foundation.

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Better Competition Needed

According to Martin, Animesh will need to run similarly competitive races in the future.

“We need to be running in faster races. We are going to compete in Europe this summer. Hopefully, we’ll get some really fast races there,” he says.

Animesh has followed this competition pattern — he ran a personal best of 10.27 seconds in the 100m last year at the Carlos Gil Perez Grand Prix in Spain.

“He was about 5 metres behind the winners because he ran alongside competitors with a personal best of 9.9 seconds. But we still want him to race against guys like that and those running the 200m in the 19-second range. That’s what will push him,” says Martin.

It’s Animesh’s target to be running those sorts of races himself.

“Ultimately, my goal is to run under 20 seconds. That’s the main thing. This season, our main goal is to run that sort of time at the World University Games (in Bochum, Germany) in July. That’s what we are aiming for,” says Animesh.

Late Start

These are lofty ambitions — ones Animesh might hardly have considered plausible just a few years ago. He is a relatively late starter to track and field, having only started the sport when he was 16.

Until then, Animesh, the son of a police officer in Chhattisgarh, had been a football player at his Sainik School in Ambikapur.

“It was only after I passed out of school in 2020 and didn’t have a team anymore that I looked to find another sport,” he recalls.

That sport turned out to be track and field. He entered the State junior competition on what he says was almost a whim.

“I didn’t know anything about athletics at that time. I didn’t even know who the top athletes were. I just knew who Usain Bolt was. I took part in both the 100m and the shot put because they let me compete in both,” he says.

With a naturally powerful build — he is a heavily muscled 6’2” — Animesh was good enough to make it through the State team and compete in the junior national championships the following year. Despite his late start, his natural gifts meant he was always competitive, going on to win gold in the 200m at the Under-23 National Championships in Bilaspur in 2023.

The gold he won there was secondary, though, to his meeting Martin, a UK-based sprints coach brought to India by the Reliance Foundation. Again, just on a whim, Animesh decided to approach the senior coach.

“I didn’t have anything on my mind. I just thought, ‘Wow, there is this foreign coach in India. Let me go and speak to him,’” he recalls.

A week later, Animesh packed his bags and headed to Odisha for an assessment under Martin, and not long after, he was made part of the High Performance Centre in the State.

In the two years since he started training with Martin, Animesh has gone from strength to strength. According to his coach, Animesh’s record in Kochi will be the first of many.

“Right now, he’s just scraping the surface of his ability. He’s going to be a great sprinter,” says Martin.

Animesh, he says, is slowly ironing out the weaknesses in his running.

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“One of the things we are working on is his top-end speed. It’s better than it was last year and the year before. Once he gets moving, he runs fast. His start needs some work, but he’s getting there,” says Martin.

Animesh runs the 100m to refine his start. While his times are improving, the main goal is to enhance his launch, as his taller frame makes him slower off the blocks compared to shorter sprinters.

It’s in the 200m that Animesh shines, though.

“I run the 100m just as a side event. The 200m is my main event. There’s no one like me in India who runs the 200m. It’s my event. I don’t care who else is running it. It’s my event,” he says.

Knowing he was running in his pet event motivated him to finally secure the national record.

“Since last year, I’ve been running 20.5, 20.6. It’s been going on like this. I was wondering why I can’t run my event the way I want to,” he says.

Now that he finally has, he’s not satisfied — if anything, it’s only made him hungrier.

“How can this (national record) satisfy me? This is a good stepping stone, but I’ve only started getting hungry. Now there is the hunger to go below 20 seconds,” he says.