Vishal breaks men's 400m national record, hogs limelight at Nationals

Chennai, Aug 21 (PTI) Tamil Nadu quarter-miler Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi smashed the men's 400m national record by clocking 45.12 seconds to hog the limelight on the second day of the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships here Thursday.

The 21-year-old ran a stunning race to leave his rivals way behind, grabbing gold and cementing his status as the numero uno quarter-miler of the country.

He bettered the previous national record of 45.21 seconds which was in the name of Muhammed Anas since 2019.

Vishal's earlier best was 45.57 seconds while finishing fourth at the 2025 Asian Championships in May in South Korea where he was a member of India's gold-winning mixed 4x400m relay team and silver-winning men's 4x400m relay quartet. With his 45.12 seconds timing after a scorching run, Vishal became the fourth fastest Asian 400m runner of the season, behind Yuki Joseph Nakajima (44.84 seconds) of Japan, Ammar Ismail Ibrahim (44.90 seconds) of Qatar and Liukai Liu (45.06 seconds) of China.

He, though, was well behind the automatic World Championships qualification time of 44.85 seconds.

Seasoned Rajesh Ramesh, also of Tamil Nadu, was second with 46.04 seconds while Haryana's Vikrant Panchal was third with 46.17 seconds.

"I have been very consistent this year in 400m. All races were sub-46 seconds," Vishal said after his record breaking race.

"I was confident of improving my personal best. I’m happy to have improved the national record. My goal next year is to break the 45 seconds barrier," he added.

Vishal has been on a meteoric rise in his short career which he began in 2022 only. He began running individual 400m race only in 2024 with 46.77 seconds being the best of that year.

This year, he rose to become the country's premier quartermiler, winning the Federation Cup National Championships title in April with a time of 46.19 seconds.

His best moment came on August 10 when he won 400m gold in the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level meet in Bhubaneswar with a time of 45.72 seconds.

The corresponding women's 400m race was won by rising Gujarat runner Devyaniba Zala (53.37 seconds) while Kerala's Anankha BA (53.84 seconds) and Uttar Pradesh's Prachi (53.96 seconds) finished second and third respectively.

In the women's pole vault, Tamil Nadu's Baranica Elangovan won gold after scaling 4.10m, equalling the previous meet record set by P Venkatesh in 2023. Mariya Jaison (4.05m) of Kerala and Sathya Tamilarsan (4m) of Tamil Nadu finished second and third respectively.

Results: Men 400m: Vishal Tk (Tamil Nadu) 45.12 seconds (national record; previous record 45.21 seconds), Rajesh Ramesh (Tamil Nadu) 46.04 seconds, Vikrant Panchal (Haryana) 46.17 seconds.

1500m: Yoonus Shah (Uttar Pradesh) 3:41.22 seconds, Ajay Saroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3:41.55 seconds, Arjun Waskale (Madhya Pradesh) 3:42.86 seconds.

Discus throw: Kirpal Singh (Chandigarh) 55.00m, Nirbhay Singh (Haryana) 53.63m, Ujjawal Choudhary (Haryana) 53.23m.

Decathlon: Stalin Joes (Tamil Nadu) 7052 points, Kushal Mohite (Maharashtra) 6976 points, Kamal Dhankh (Haryana) 6820 points.

Women: 400m: Devyaniba Zala (Gujarat) 53.37 seconds, Anankha BA (Kerala) 53.84 seconds, Prachi (Uttar Pradesh) 53.96 seconds.

1500m: Pooja (Haryana) 4:10.68 seconds, Lili Das (Uttarakhand) 4:12.47 seconds, Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 4:21.37 seconds.

Pole vault: Baranica Elangovan (Tamil Nadu) 4.10m, Mariya Jaison (Kerala) 4.05m, Sathya Tamilarsan (Tamil Nadu) 4m.

Shot put: Kachnar Chaudhary (Rajasthan) 15.75m, Vidhi (Uttar Pradesh) 15.30m, Shiksha (Haryana) 15.13m. PTI PDS AT AT AT