After taking the 5000m gold comfortably in the morning, Madhya Pradesh’s Ekta Pradeep Dey broke the women’s 3000m steeple chase record by a massive 19 seconds on the concluding evening of the 22nd National Federation Cup junior (under-20) athletics championships in Lucknow on Sunday.
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That makes the 18-year-old, who clocked 10:10.08s, the second-fastest in the world in the under-20 age group this year, behind Kenyan Sharon Chepkemoi (10:07.67s).
Incidentally, Ekta had clocked a mediocre 11:04.68 while finishing sixth in the Junior Nationals in Coimbatore in November 2023.
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Meanwhile, UP’s Sharuk Khan broke his own meet record in the men’s 3000m steeple chase.
The results (winners only):
Men: 200m: Dondapati Mrutyam (Odi) 21.59s. 800M: Vinod Kumar Banoth (Tel) 1:51.30s. 5000M: Vinod Singh (MP) 14:22.32s. 400m hurdles: Murad Sirman (Guj) 52.31s. 3000M steeple chase: Sharuk Khan (UP) 8:57.90s MR, OR 9:05.42. High jump: R. Castro Raj (TN) 1.95m. Triple jump: Bhupendra Singh Bisht (Ukd) 15.08m. Javelin throw: Dipanshu Sharma (UP) 68.89m.
Women: 200m: Dodla Sai Sangeetha (Tel) 24.58s. 800m: Laxita Vinod Sandilea (Guj) 2:09.01s. 5000M: Ekta Pradeep Dey (MP) 17:08.81s. 400M hurdles: Shreeya Rajesh (Kar) 59.30s MR, OR 1:00.36s. 3000M steeple chase: Ekta Pradeep Dey (MP) 10:10.08s NR, OR 10:29.50s. Triple jump: Rishika Aswathi (UP) 12.40m. Javelin throw: Deepika (Har) 48.71m. Shot put: Tamanna (Har) 14.56m. Heptathlon: Pavana Nagaraj (Kar) 5076 pts.