Gurindervir Singh Briefly Breaks 100m National Record Before Animesh Strikes Back

Animesh Kujur regained the men’s 100m national record in dramatic fashion at the Federation Cup 2026 athletics championships in Ranchi after Gurindervir Singh briefly held the mark for only a few minutes.

The remarkable sequence unfolded during the semifinals of the men’s 100m event on Friday.

In the first semifinal heat, 25-year-old Gurindervir Singh clocked 10.17 seconds to break Animesh’s previous national record of 10.18 seconds, which had been set last year.

However, in the very next semifinal, 22-year-old Animesh responded immediately by sprinting to a new national record of 10.15 seconds, reclaiming his status as India’s fastest man.

The performance also helped Animesh breach the Athletics Federation of India’s qualification standard for the 2026 Commonwealth Games

The qualifying benchmark for the Commonwealth Games was fixed at 10.16 seconds, meaning Animesh’s run placed him inside the required standard.

Why is the Federation Cup so important for Commonwealth Games qualification?

The Federation Cup is one of India’s most significant domestic athletics competitions and is serving as the lone selection trial for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 2, 2026.

According to the Athletics Federation of India, only 32 track-and-field athletes can represent India at the Games, prompting the federation to introduce extremely strict qualification criteria across events.

For the men’s 100m event, athletes were required to run faster than the existing national record to secure qualification consideration, raising the competitiveness of the event significantly.

The men’s 100m final on Saturday is now expected to become one of the headline events of the tournament, with Animesh and Gurindervir set for a direct showdown after both sprinters rewrote the national record within minutes of each other.

Which other athletes stood out on the opening day?

The opening day of the Federation Cup also saw several strong performances across track and field events, particularly in women’s long jump and discus throw.

Ancy Sojan, the Asian Games silver medallist, topped the women’s long jump event with a personal best leap of 6.75 metres. Shaili Singh finished second with 6.58 metres, while Bhavani Yadav came third with 6.39 metres.

Although Ancy delivered a personal best, she narrowly missed the Commonwealth Games qualification standard of 6.84 metres.

In women’s discus throw, Seema crossed the qualification mark for the Commonwealth Games with a throw of 57.29 metres.

The qualifying standard in the event was 56.85 metres, meaning Seema successfully secured the required benchmark.

Nidhi Rani finished second with 55.05 metres, while Krishna Jayasankar claimed third place with 55.00 metres.

Other winners on the opening day included Deepak Bhatt in the men’s 10,000m, Ravina Gayakwad in the women’s 10,000m, Ashish Jakhar in men’s hammer throw, and Balkishan and Ankita in the men’s and women’s 3000m steeplechase events respectively.

(With inputs from ANI)