2021 National Open Athletics Championships | Harmilan Bains scripts new national record in women's 1500m event

It was a memorable day at the National Open Athletics Championships 2021, as mid-distance runner Harmilan Bains clocked 4:05:39 to script a new national record and bag top-honours in the women’s 1500m event. She broke a 19-year record set by Sunita Rani, who had set a timing of 4:06.03 at the 2002 Asian Games.

Delhi’s Chanda followed her to claim a silver-medal position with a timing of 4:18.24, while Madhya Pradesh’s KM Deeksha settled for a bronze by setting up a time of 4:24.34. This was Harmilan’s sixth win of the season, but, she is far behind the qualification mark of 4:04.20, set for the 2022 World Athletics Championships, in Oregon, USA.

Meanwhile, K Naresh Kumar of Andhra Pradesh also set a new national championships record in the men’s 100m event, having timed 10.30 seconds to win it. The 23-year old edged past the previous mark of 10.37, set by Anil Kumar in the 2001 edition of the meet.

The race for the second and the third place was sorted out by a photo finish, with Assam’s Amlan Borgohain finishing with a better timing than Harjit Singh of Services. Borgohain’s final timing read 10.334, which was narrowly ahead of Harjit’s 10.340 seconds.