Animesh Kujur overcomes false start setback, shines with 100m-200m double

Animesh Kujur bounced back in style at the Indian Athletics Series, edging a thrilling 100m title in a photo finish before returning later to secure a comfortable win in the 200m at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday.

The star Indian sprinter revealed that he has made a crucial technical adjustment by changing his starting block after enduring a heartbreaking false start at the National Indoor Championships in Bhubaneswar last month. The move, suggested by his coach, appears to have already paid off as Kujur delivered a composed performance across both sprint events.

The 22-year-old, who holds the national records in both the men's 100m and 200m, admitted that the memory of the false start was still fresh in his mind, particularly during the morning session when he lined up for the 200m race.

"I was thinking about the false start when I was about to run 200m. I was thinking that nothing like that will happen again. But I was confident before the 100m. At that time, there was no thought of the false start," Kujur said after winning the 100m race.

He explained that the false start incident prompted a rethink in his approach to the blocks. "After National Indoor Championships, my coach changed my block. That block was risky. I used to take the block at the start. He changed it now and this is the new block start. It will be fun."

Kujur also made it clear that his ambitions this season go well beyond domestic titles. Setting his sights on elite global benchmarks, he declared bold targets for both sprint events.

"My target is below 10 seconds in 100m and below 20 seconds in 200m," he said.

"Right now, my national record is 10.18 seconds. That's why people may think it's hard to reach 10.16 seconds. But if I do 10.10 or 10.05 seconds, it will also be easy to go even better."

Kujur's current national records stand at 10.18 seconds in the 100m and 20.32 seconds in the 200m, and while breaking the 10-second and 20-second barriers remains a significant challenge, the young sprinter has shown steady improvement since stepping into the senior circuit in 2023.

Reflecting on his journey, Kujur said he has learnt valuable lessons from last season, particularly about managing workload and balancing training with competitions. A packed schedule around the World Championships last year, he admitted, affected his ability to maintain peak condition.

"I have learnt a lot from last year. Last year, because of the world championships, I had to play a lot of competitions. But this year, I will play in selected competitions and I will modify my training accordingly so that I don't make the same mistake as last time," he said.

"It's important to know how to handle training in between competitions. I was not able to understand how to do it last year."

With a crucial season ahead featuring the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, Kujur is focused on timing his peak to perfection.

"This year is also an important one as there is Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. I have to do well. Asian Games is the last competition of this year so I will give my best performance in that," he said.