India’s 4x400m men’s relay team scorched the track and ran a historic race at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on Saturday, finishing second in the heats with an Asian record (AR) of 2 minute 59.05 seconds. The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh put in a stunning display to finish above an athletics powerhouse like Great Britain (2:59.42 seconds) and qualify for the final of World Athletics Championships.
The previous Asian record of 2:59.51 was in the name of Japan.
A lot of credit for the stupendous show should go to Rajesh Ramesh, who ran the anchor leg and got the better of his British counterpart. Ramesh also gave the world record holders Americans a run for their money, finishing very close to them.
“We came here for our best and we are happy with our performance. Last year, we didn’t do well and finished with a very poor timing. This time we were determined to do well, and came here for a sub 3-minute timing which we managed to achieve,” Muhammed Anas said after the race.
India’s earlier national record was achieved by the quartet of Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob, Rajiv Arokia and Noah Nirmal Tom. They finished with a timing of 3:00.25 seconds at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
USA, expectedly, topped the heats with a time of 2:58:47 seconds. The Indian quartet stands a good chance of a podium finish as the top 4 qualifiers (USA, India, Great Britain and Botswana) to the final were from their heat.
Jamaica, France, Italy and Netherlands qualified for the final from the second heat. To put the Indian team’s achievement in perspective, Great Britain are the current European Championships 4x400m relay title holders. Two of the four runners of the British team – Lewis Davey and Rio Mitcham – have already won silver in the 4x400m mixed relay event.
The other two members are Charles Dobson and Alex Haydock-Wilson. The British quartet also put in their season’s best (SB) timing, but were narrowly pipped by the Indians.
