Jyothi Yarraji Becomes First Indian Woman Hurdler To Break 13-second Barrier

Jyothi Yarraji on Monday created history by becoming the first Indian woman to clock a legal sub-13 second time in 100m hurdles while smashing her own record at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru on Monday. The 23-year-old Yarraji, representing Railways, cruised to victory in 12.82 seconds and, with the wind gauge reading 0.9m/s, she could not be denied her national record timing a second time. She had won the same event in the National Games in Gandhinagar in a time of 12.79 seconds but was supported by wind that exceeded the permissible limit. Her earlier national record was 13.04 set in May.

Yarraji was unstoppable on Monday. She had already owned the meet mark with 13.18 seconds in the heats, bettering the record of 13.38 seconds set by Anuradha Biswal in Chennai 20 years ago.

In the final, she hit the front by the time the seven athletes got to the second hurdle and was a comfortable winner.

The Railways star, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and trains in Bhubaneswar, capped a fine season, with a fumble only at the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai in June.

She thus became the second fastest Asian in the event this year and earned a place just outside the continent's all-time top 10 list.

It was the third time this year that she rewrote the national record. She broke Anuradha Biswal's national mark of 13.38 set in 2002 with 13.11 in Loughborough University on May 22.

Four days later, she raised the bar to 13.04 seconds in Vught, Netherlands. Earlier, she had a 13.09-second effort in the Federation Cup in Kozhikode but was denied by excessive wind speed.

Promoted

Late on Sunday evening, Parshant Singh Kanhiya (Railways) claimed the men's pole vault meet record when he cleared 5.15m.

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