Jyothi Yarraji became the first Indian to go under 13 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles by breezing past the finish line in 12.82 seconds at the 61st National Open athletics championships at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Monday.
The 23-year-old had clocked 12.79 at the recently held National Games in Gujarat, but it wasn’t considered a National record because it came with a +2.5 m/s tailwind assistance. Anything over 2 m/s doesn’t count for a record.
The Open being her last event of the season, she seemed determined to go out on a high by adding the gold to the Inter-University, Federation Cup and National Games titles she had already won.
Jyothi Yarraji (319) of Railways, after winning the Women’s 100m Hurdles, during the 61st National Open Athletics Championship 2022, at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium, in Bengaluru on October 17, 2022. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
She clocked 13.17s in the heats to erase Anuradha Biswal’s previous meet record of 13.38 set way back in 2002.
However, the skies opened up barely an hour before the final, making the conditions damp and delaying the much-awaited dash by 20 minutes.
But Yarraji seemed unperturbed, as she took the lead around the 40m mark and ended up shaving over two-tenths of a second from her previous National record of 13.04s. Yarraji now holds the four best times by an Indian woman.
“It’s a relief to get it (dip under 13 seconds),” said James Hillier, Jyothi’s coach at the Odisha Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre. “The conditions were not the best, which made the performance even better. It’s the coming of age season for her.”
Jyothi Yarraji (319) of Railways, winning the Women’s 100m Hurdles, during the 61st National Open Athletics Championship 2022, at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium, in Bengaluru on October 17, 2022. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
The results: Men: 110m hurdles: 1. Maymon Poulose (Ser) 13.97s, 2. Tejas Ashok Shirse (Mah) 13.98, 3. Sachin Babu (Ser) 14.19; 5000m: 1. Sunil Dawar (MP) 14:10.45; 2. Gulveer Singh (Ser) 14:11.24, 3. Kiran Matre (Ser) 14:14.35; Pole vault: 1. Parshant Singh Kanhiya (Rly) 5.15m (NMR; OR: 5.21, S. Siva, 2021); 2. S. Siva (Ser) 5.00, 3. Shekhar Kumar Pandey (UP) 5.00; 4x100m relay: 1. Railways 39.75s (NMR; OR: 39.89, Railways, 2006), 2. Services 40.21, 3. Maharashtra 40.50.
Women: 100m hurdles: Jyothi Yarraji (Rly) 12.82s (NMR; OR: 13.38, Anuradha Biswal, 2002), 2. Sapna Kumari (Jha) 13.26, 3. Agasara Nandini (Tel) 13.51; 5000m: 1. Parul Chaudhary (Rly) 16:24.90, 2. Seema (HP) 16:25.17, 3. Komal Chandrakant Jag (Rly) 16:28.89; Shot put: 1. Manpreet Kaur (Pun) 16.84m, 2. Abha Khatua (Mah) 15.72, 3. Paramjot Kaur (Rly) 15.25; 4x100m relay: 1. Railways, 44.98s (NMR; OR: 45.23, Railways, 2019), 2. Karnataka 46.09, 3. Tamil Nadu 46.38.
