Himanshu, Mohit Choudhary excel in National Junior Athletics Championships

Bhubaneswar, Oct 10 (PTI) Haryana's Asian youth champion Himanshu booked his ticket to World U20 Championships with a meet record on the opening day of the 40th National Junior Athletics Championships, here at the Kalinga Stadium on Friday.

The meet record was also improved in the U20 men's 5,000m event.

Himanshu hurled the javelin (700g) to a distance of 79.96m in the U18 boys' qualification round which was better than the meet record of 76.50m set in 2014 in Vijayawada by the great Neeraj Chopra.

The qualification mark for World U20 men's javelin is 68.50m.

"I'll do better in the final tomorrow," claimed Himanshu. "I've been regularly crossing the 80m mark in practice and should be able to further improve the meet record." At the 2025 Asian Youth Athletics Championships held in April in Saudi Arabia, Himanshu won the gold with a distance of 67.57m.

"I didn't carry my personal equipment (javelin) and wasn't able to do my personal best which was plus 74m in April," said Himanshu.

The meet record was also erased in the men's U20 5,000m race in the morning session.

Mohit Choudhary of Telangana clocked 14:09.71 seconds to better the previous meet record of 14:12.67 set by Vinod Singh in 2024 in Bhubaneswar.

The qualification period for the 2026 World U20 Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, starts from October 1 and will end on July 26, 2026.

Results: Boys U20: 100m: Parth Singh (Jharkhand) 10.52 seconds, Pratik Maharana (Odisha) 10.72 seconds, Jasjit Singh Dhillon (Punjab) 10.79 seconds.

U18: 100m: Aditya Pisal (Maharashtra) 10.71 seconds, Chiranth P (Karnataka) 10.71 seconds, Savin Thingalaya (Karnataka) 10.81 seconds.

U20: 5,000m: Mohit Choudhary (Telangana) 14:09.71 seconds (meet record. previous meet record 14:12.67 set by Vinod Singh in 2024 in Bhubaneswar), Abhinandan S (Maharashtra) 14:19.52 seconds, Dhramraj Jat (Rajasthan) 14:19.68 seconds.

U16: 60m: Abhinanth AB (Tamil Nadu) 6.95 seconds (meet record. previous record 6.99 seconds by D Raj in 2024), Hariyant Pindwal (Uttar Pradesh) 7.03 seconds, Tharun A (Tamil Nadu) 7.04 seconds.

U14: Triathlon (B): Arthi SK (Tamil Nadu) 3147 points (meet record. previous 2802 points), Anushka (Haryana) 2768 points, Adwika KP (Karnataka) 2739 points.

Girls U18: 100m: Aarti (Haryana) 11.95 seconds, Shourya Ambure (Maharashtra) 12.16 seconds, Prisha Mishra (Haryana) 12.28 secs.

U20: 100m: Suba Dharsini S (Tamil Nadu) 11.94 seconds, Kajal Vaja (Gujarat) 12.01 seconds, Nipam (Uttar Pradesh) 12.03 seconds.

U20: 5,000m: Sonam Parmar (Madhya Pradesh) 17:20.98 seconds, Pratima Verma (Uttar Pradesh) 18:04.57 seconds, Pooja (Haryana) 18:26.69 seconds.

U20: Discus throw: Nitika Kumari (Rajasthan) 48.81m, Supriya Attri (Uttar Pradesh) 48.15m, Riddhi (Haryana) 47.81m.

U16: 60m: Jilsha Jinil (Kerala) 7.81 seconds, Mihika Surve (Maharashtra) 7.81 seconds, Pratiksha Mugade (Maharashtra) 7.82 seconds.

U14: Triathlon (C): Sara Ghod (Maharashtra) 2511 points, Ritika (Haryana) 2455 points, Sumona Hansda (West Bengal) 2398 points. PTI AH DDV