Ankita sets new meet record in 3,000m steeplechase at National Athletics Championships

Ankita broke the decade-old meet record in the women's 3,000m steeplechase, while Jishnu Prasad set a meet record in the men's 200m at the 65th National Open Athletics Championships in Delhi on the final day of competition

Hyderabad: Ankita was the star of the show as she broke a decade-old meet record in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase on the final day of the 65th National Open Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi on Sunday.

Jishnu Prasad, representing All India Police, also improved the meet record in the men’s 200m. Prasad clocked 20.62 seconds to win gold and better the previous meet record of 20.66 seconds, set by B. Nitin in Bengaluru in 2024.

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Ankita’s gold-winning time of 9:34.86 was better than Lalita Babar’s meet record of 9:39.83, set in Kolkata in 2015. Representing Railways, Ankita led the race from start to finish. “I could have clocked a better time, but there was no one to challenge me in the race today,” Ankita said during a post-race interaction.

The national record in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, held by Parul Chaudhary, stands at 9:08.67.

Earlier, in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, Sharuk Khan narrowly missed the meet record of 8:29.80 set by Avinash Sable in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in 2018. Khan was satisfied with his performance. “I will take a short break and prepare for the challenging 2027 season,” the promising steeplechase runner said.

In the women’s high jump, three athletes were awarded bronze medals.

Results: 

Men

200m: Jishnu Prasad (All India Police) 20.62 seconds (meet record); Abhin Devadiga (Railways) 20.91 seconds; Adesh Garsa (Rajasthan) 20.96 seconds.

800m: Mogali V (Andhra Pradesh) 1:47.01; Aman Kumar (SSCB) 1:47.33; Anant Gautam (Delhi) 1:48.03.

400m hurdles: Murad Sirman (SSCB) 49.86 seconds; Shakti Singh (SSCB) 50.13 seconds; Aryan Prajwal (Karnataka) 50.38 seconds.

3,000m steeplechase: Sharuk Khan (Railways) 8:30.54; Prince Raj Mishra (Railways) 8:31.38; Sumit Rathee (ONGC) 8:36.17.

Long jump: Mohd Sazid (SSCB) 7.99m; Sarun Payasingh (Odisha) 7.79m; Sunny (Bihar) 7.65m.

Javelin throw: Aditya (Haryana) 79.40m; Anand Singh (SSCB) 77.77m; Arshdeep Singh (Railways) 77.56m.

42km marathon race walk: Sandeep Kumar (Haryana) 3:19:52.00; Vishvendra Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 3:21:11.00; Resham Midhun (SSCB) 3:22:46.00.

4x400m relay: Railways 3:06.36; SSCB 3:06.59; Tamil Nadu 3:08.29.

Women

200m: Priyanka Sikarwar (All India Police) 23.68 seconds; Parthipa Selvaraj (Tamil Nadu) 24.09 seconds; Samriti Jamwal (Himachal Pradesh) 24.14 seconds.

400m hurdles: Sinchal (Railways) 58.40 seconds; Harshitha R (Tamil Nadu) 59.51 seconds; Deekshita (Karnataka) 59.57 seconds.

3,000m steeplechase: Ankita (Railways) 9:34.86; Mori Vandana (Gujarat) 10:00.02; Komal Jagadale (Railways) 10:05.34.

High jump: Reet Rathor (Uttar Pradesh) 1.78m; Abhinaya Shetty (Karnataka) 1.73m; Pallavi Patil (Karnataka) 1.73m; Mansi (Railways) 1.73m; Kevinna Annavi (Tamil Nadu) 1.73m.

Heptathlon: Pooja (Railways) 5,468 points; Anamika KA (Railways) 5,334 points; Mubassina Mohammed (ONGC) 5,265 points.

4x400m relay: Railways 3:38.40; Haryana 3:40.29; Tamil Nadu 3:43.99.

42km marathon race walk: Ramandeep Kaur (Railways) 3:59:23.00; Sonal Sukhwal (Rajasthan) 4:16:06.00; Deepika Sharma (Rajasthan) 4:22:55.00.