An Indian sprinter taking to the track at a Diamond League event is unheard of. When Animesh Kujur ran in the U23 200m race at the Monaco Diamond League, it was a first for Indian athletics.
Currently India’s fastest man, Kujur ran beside sprint sensation Gout Gout and finished fourth in a six-man field with a timing of 20.55 seconds. Starting alongside the Australian teenager in the last lane, Kujur never threatened his personal best of 20.32s, but didn’t worry too much about his timing as he had much to learn at such an elite event.
“I expected a better time, but I competed with big athletes like Gout Gout, and it was a great experience. I saw Noah Lyles and Lestlie Tebogo. I saw their warm-up and pre-race routines. I learned new things from them, which I’m going to implement in my warm-up, as I now know how an elite athlete trains,” Kujur told reporters.
“The best experience was when I entered the stadium. Looking at such a big crowd and the stadium completely packed made me more energetic. The adrenaline was high, and I had never felt like that before.”
Kujur finished fourth behind Gout Gout (Australia), Collen Kebinatshipi (Botswana) and Jack Naeem (South Africa), all of whom have a better personal best than him. When asked how it was like running in such an elite field, he said, “Running with faster athletes will only make me faster. The South African (Naeem) was my roommate, and I had a lot of conversations with him about running fast and improving.”
Breaking down the race
The sprinters faced a very strong headwind going into the race, as Gout also mentioned. “I just got told that it was into a headwind. I ran pretty decently, so I am happy with that,” he said.
Explaining the conditions, Kujur’s coach Martin Owens said, “It was a minus 1.9 headwind. It really was strong. That was disappointing because the night before, we’d been to the stadium to orient ourselves, and the wind had dropped. So, we thought, ‘Great, we’re going to get a really fast run,’ but sadly it didn’t happen.”
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“We got all the 10-metre splits and I can tell you that there wasn’t much difference when they started. But Gout is an exceptional talent, and he got quicker with every section, making him the fastest,” he explained further.
What next?
Kujur has been on the road for more than three months now. After competing at the Federation Cup in April, he went for a meet in the UAE, then the Asian Championships in Korea, a meet in Taiwan, before moving to Europe to train and compete.
After sharing the track with some of the fastest young sprinters in the world, he will now head to Switzerland to train and participate in a meet in Geneva on July 15 before being part of the Indian team for the upcoming World University Games in Germany.
“Right now, our schedule is very tight as we travel to Germany from here and will work with the relay team for the World University Games. Before that, Animesh will run at a meet in Geneva,” Owens said. The duo will be based in Bochum, Germany.
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After the World University Games, Kujur will return to India for the World Continental Tour bronze event in Bhubaneswar and the Inter-State Athletics meet.
“Hopefully, I qualify for the World Championships also. I will attempt to run 20.16 (the qualifying standard) at all the meets I am going to,” said Kujur. While direct qualification looks unlikely at the moment, he does have a chance to qualify via the ranking quota.
“We’ve analysed the figures from last night, so we’ve got some specific targets we’ve got to do. Let’s hope he goes close to the direct qualification of the World Championships, if not achieving it,” Owens concluded.
