Bengaluru: Coach Nepal Singh had promised R Vithya Ramraj an extra five-day leave if she went under 57 seconds in the women's 400m hurdles at the 63rd National Open Athletics Championships here on Monday.
The Coimbatore girl, having been away from home for a year, took the incentive as a motivation and ran the distance not only under 57s but also broke PT Usha's meet record of 56.80s which the legend had set in Thiruvananthapuram way back in 1985. The soon-to-be 26-year-old stopped the clock at 56.23s during her gold-medal winning sprint!
"Yes, I have been trying to break this record from the past two years. It feels great to finally do it, especially in the last event of the season," said an elated Vithya, who was part of the Indian 4x400m women's relay team that flew to paris for the Olympics last month.
The strategy before the start of the race was to start quick off the blocks and over the first two hurdles, maintain the momentum in the next five before accelerating to finish strong. Vithya, a three-time national champion, executed the plan well to end her season on a high and earn extra few days' off.
Railways Sports' Sinchal (57.60s) and Karnataka's Prajna (57.90s) claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The other meet record of the last day of competitions came from sprinter Nithin who crossed the finish line in 20.66s to top the podium in the men's 200m race. The Tamil Nadu runner bettered the previous mark of 20.74s set by Animesh Kujur in Bengaluru last year.
One of the most anticipated events - the women's long jump - witnessed another dominating performance. Services Sports Control Board's Ancy Sojan drew all the spotlight at the Sree Kanteerava stadium by leaping to 6.71 meters to clinch the gold ahead of Karthika Gothandapani of RS (6.29m) and Bhavani Yadav Bhagavat (6.25m).
"I'm happy that I could manage three jumps that were over 6.60m. The main goal for next year will be to consistently cross 6.70m," said Ancy who also bagged the best woman athlete of the event.
Results: Men: 200m:Nithin (TN) 20.66s, 1 MR; Nalubothu Srinivas (RS) 20.67s, 2; Abhin Devadiga (RS) 20.81s, 3.
400m hurdles: Aman (Har) 50.52s, 1; Jabir Palliyalil (SSCB) 50.53s, 2; Nikhil Bhardwaj (SSCB) 50.90s, 3.
800m: Mohammed P (SSCB) 1:48.10, 1; Prakash Gadade (SSCB) 1:49.52, 2; Shyam Milan Bind (MP) 1:49.83, 3.
3000m steeplechase: Siddhant Pujari (Mah) 8:46.05, 1; Rohit Verma (SSCB) 8:46.30, 2; Sourabh Antil (SSCB) 8:47.14, 3.
10000m: Abhishek (RS) 29:48.18, 1; Arun Rathod (Mah) 29:52.54, 2; Sunil Kumar (SSCB) 29:56.09, 3.
Triple jump: Mohammed SN (TN) 16.28m, 1; Gailey Venister (RS) 16.27m, 2; Sebastian VS (Ker) 16.15m, 3.
4x400m relay: SSCB 3:07.11, 1; Tamil Nadu 3:08.56, 2; Railways Sports 3:08.70, 3.
Women: 200m:Nithya Gandhe (RS) 23.51s, 1; Srabani Nanda (Odi) 23.83s, 2; Nancy (Har) 23.84s, 3.
400m hurdles: R Vithya Ramraj (RS) 56.23s MR, 1; Sinchal (RS) 57.60s, 2; Prajna (Kar) 57.90s, 3.
800m: Chanda (RS) 2:01.16, 1; Twinkle (Pun) 2:03.59, 2; Gug Kaur (Pun) 2:04.77, 3.
3000m steeplechase: Rebi Pal (RS) 10:21.28, 1; Komal Jagadale (RS) 10:26.34, 2; Susmita Tigga (Odi) 10:43.52, 3.
10000m: Seema (HP) 33:56.86, 1; Sonika (RS) 34:50.57, 2; Kavita Yadav (UP) 35:10.77, 3.
Long jump: Ancy Sojan (SSCB) 6.71m, 1; Karthika Gothandapani (RS) 6.29m, 2; Bhavani Yadav Bhagavat (RS) 6.25m, 3.
Javelin throw: Vikrant Malik (Har) 80.02m, 1; Sachin Yadav (UP) 79.80m, 2; Rohit Yadav (RS) 79.31m, 3.
Hammer throw: Harshita Sehrawat (Del) 61.04m, 1; Tanya Chaudhary 9UP) 60.18m, 2; Anmol Kaur (Pun) 58.82m , 3.
Heptathlon: Agasara Nandini (Tel) 5526 points, 1; Moumita Mondal (RS) 5126 pts, 2; Pooja (RS) 5126 pts, 3.
4x400m relay: Railway Sports 3:39.01, 1; Andhra Pradesh 3:39.11, 2; Punjab 3:39.40, 3.
Best athlete: Men: Nithin (TN) 1118 pts.
Women: Ancy Sojan E (SSCB) 1153 pts.
Championships: Men: SSCB 137 pts.
Women: Railways 201 pts.
Overall: Railways 318 pts.