Top Indian track and field stars will populate the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday to take part in the Delhi leg of Indian Open Series. The event has attracted more than 900 entries across age-groups.
On Friday, the main athletics arena of the stadium was buzzing with athletes warming up and getting a feel of the newly-laid mondo track. There was a visible excitement among the athletes to run on the track which is used in the World Championships and Olympics. The track was laid in 2025 for the World Para Athletics Championships and this is first-ever able-bodied track and field national meet on the track.
World Championships finalist Sachin Yadav, 100m NR holder Animesh Kujur, 400m NR holder Vishal TK along with a returning Hima Das are some of the big names who will be in action tomorrow.
Packed 100m field
A star-studded field in the men’s 100m promises a race where records can tumble tomorrow. Along with Animesh, former NR holder Gurindervir Singh, Pranav Pramod, Harsh Raut, and Tamil Arasu make a promising field where a good race on the mondo track can push the national record mark of 10.18s further.
While Animesh had a poor start to the indoor season after his disqualification at the National Indoor Athletics Championships in Odisha last month, Gurindervir clocked 6.60s in the final to win the title.
On Saturday, all the top Indian sprinters are packed in the same race.
Classy Javelin Field
The men’s Javelin throw has eight athletes who have personal best of over 80m making it a world class field in terms of the mark. Apart from Sachin, Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Kumar Jena, Rohit Yadav and latest javelin sensation Shivam Lohakare will be in action tomorrow.
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India’s Sachin Yadav competes in the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
After finishing a credible fourth in his World Championships debut, Sachin will start his 2026 season on his home turf. Shivam, who broke Neeraj Chopra’s meet record at Inter-Services last year, has already crossed 81m last month at the throws competition.
Two events in one day
India’s latest marathon sensation Kartik Karkera, who is currently in his off season, will participate in two events- 10000m and 1500m. While 10000m is the first event of the day, 1500 m is the last event of the day.
“Right now, I am not competing anywhere. So, I am going to compete in both the events to test my fitness and develop the speed which will help me in the upcoming marathons,” said Kartik ahead of the event.
Earlier this year in March, Kartik clocked 2 hours, 15 minutes, 04 seconds at Delhi Marathon to break the qualification time set by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Moreover, in only his third marathon, he clocked 2:13.10 to win gold and saw off the challenge from Olympian T Gopi and 2024 Asian Marathon winner Man Singh.
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The 16-leg Indian Open Series began on April 4 in Bengaluru followed by the second leg in Jaipur (April 5). Due to the overwhelming response to the Delhi-leg, which is the third of the Indian Open Series, the competition is packed from early morning till late evening. Competitors are categorised into different groups and all races are finals. Apart from seniors, competition will also be organised in the junior group for both men and women.
