M. Satish Kumar of Coimbatore came up with a stunning show in the men’s 5000m in the just concluded 91st Tamil Nadu State senior athletics championship at Tirunelveli.
He is just 17 and probably there may hardly be anyone of his age to have come up with such a performance in a big-ticket meet like this.
A plus two student of Rathinapuri Corporation HSS, Satish stopped the clock at 15:15.30s for the gold.
He further added the 10,000m silver to make it doubly sweet for his coach S. Vairavanathan of the Genesis Sports Foundation here.
“This is just the beginning. He will come up with even better performances in the years to come,” said Vairavananthan.
The 10,000m medal was a bonus as his pet events are the 3000m and 5000m,” he added.
Vairavanathan said Satish showed interest in participating in a marathon race a couple of years ago. “I could see the spark in his eyes; so I picked him up and trained him to this level.”
The coach was obviously pleased as Satish overcame some experienced runners in the field.
“He was able to do that because he was willing to spend long hours in training. He is blessed with a good stride and style, but the big plus is his amazing lung-capacity. So be prepared for many more surprises.”
