4 min readMay 24, 2026 07:00 AM IST
Gurindervir Singh, 25, from Punjab, broke the men’s 100m national athletics record at the Federation Cup in Ranchi Saturday, clocking 10.09 seconds to become the first Indian to run a sub-10.10-second time.
In fact, Gurindervir broke the record twice in two days. In the first semifinal on Friday, he ran 10.17s to better Animesh Kujur’s previous mark of 10.18s, though in the second semifinal, Kujur sprinted back with a faster 10.15s.
The performances of India’s fastest two men have raised the country’s hopes for an athletics medal in the Commonwealth Games (in Scotland, from July 23) as well as the Asian Games (in Japan from September 19), where they could go even faster as they are expected to be in peak form. To be sure, Gurindervir’s 10.09s in Ranchi would have been good enough to win him a silver in the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
On Saturday, when Gurindervir snapped off his bib after crossing the finish line at the Birsa Munda Stadium, coach James Hillier had his eyes fixed on the screen. As it displayed ‘10.09s’, gasps and roars echoed around. Gurindervir then showed the cameras the back of his bib and a message scribbled on it – “Task is not finished yet. 10.10. Wait. I am still standing.”
Gurindervir Singh with coach James Hillier. (Express Photo | Pritish Raj)
It was perhaps directed at social media trolls who had taken potshots at him recently. “People say a lot of things on social media. This message was to remind myself that I am here to perform and improve,” the sprinter said after the race. “Since I started 100m at the age of six or seven, people used to say that there is no future in 100m, take up 400m or something else. Indians don’t have the genes for 100m, they said. I wanted to prove all of them wrong… that Indians can do well in the 100m.”
Coach Hillier said Gurindervir had run a perfectly executed race. “I had told him if he executes what we have done in training, he would break the national record given the magnitude of the moment,” Hillier, the athletics director at the Reliance Foundation, said.
According to Hillier, when Animesh had snatched back the national record from Gurindervir on Friday, he had told him to shun social media for a day. “The goal was to keep Guri calm for the next 24 hours. I asked him to stay away from social media and his phone. I didn’t want to hype anything and wanted to protect him for those 24 hours,” Hillier told the reporters.
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Speaking to The Indian Express, Gurindervir’s father, Kamaljeet Singh, a retired Punjab Police constable, recalled his son’s early sacrifices. “Guri never shied away from training, whether it was in summer, winter or rain,” Singh said from Patial village, about 30 km from Jalandhar. “He is now reaping the rewards of his hard work.”
This is not the first time Gurindervir has lowered the national record. He did it last year in March at the Indian Grand Prix with 10.20s. But after his national record, he didn’t run faster than 10.30s for the rest of the season.
According to coach Hillier, Gurindervir won’t stall this time. “The last time he clocked the national record, his mind wasn’t conditioned to handle it as it came out of nowhere. He couldn’t deal with it. This time, I can guarantee you that he will manage it well.”
On Saturday, the clock may have stopped at 10.09 — still short of sub-10 seconds — but for men’s sprinting in India, the time is here.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
