Distance runners hogged the limelight on the opening day of the three-day 23rd National Junior (U-20) Federation Athletics Championships that got underway at Madan Mohan Malaviya Sports Complex on Sunday.
As many as eight male runners bettered the previous meet record in the 3000m track race in the morning session.
Kavinraja S of Tamil Nadu also improved a year old meet record of 5.10m set by Kuldeep Kumar in the men's pole vault. His gold medal winning height was 5.11m.
While Himanshu of Haryana and Nipam of Uttar Pradesh emerged fastest male and female athletes of the meet.
The men's 3,000m track race saw as many as eight runners improve on the previous meet record of 8:26.72 set by Ajay in 2021 in Sangrur, Punjab.
However, it was Vinod Singh of Madhya Pradesh who surged ahead of his rivals to win gold with a time of 8:14.22 seconds.
Haryana's Himanshu clocked 10.49 seconds to win gold in the men's 100m. The Haryana sprinter narrowly missed the meet record of 10.47 seconds set by Gurindervir Singh in 2018.Nipam's winning time was 11.86 seconds.
Results:
Men: 100m: Himanshu (Haryana) 10.49 seconds, Abhay Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 10.50 seconds, Varun Oori (Tamil Nadu) 10.54 seconds.
3,000m: Vinod Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 8:14.22 (previous meet record 8:26.72 set by Ajay in 2021), Vivek Chand (Gujarat) 8:14.81, Rahul Kumar (Chhattisgarh) 8:15.25.
Pole vault: Kavinraja S (Tamil Nadu) 5.11m (Previous meet record 5.10m set by Kuldeep Kumar in 2024), Arya Dev (Uttar Pradesh) 4.65m, R Ramesh (Tamil Nadu) 4.60m.
Women: 100m: Nipam (Uttar Pradesh) 11.86 seconds, Archita Banerjee (West Bengal) 11.90 seconds, Sanjana (Delhi) 12.01 seconds.
3,000m: Sanjana Singh (Haryana) 9:51.77, Shilpa Dihora (Gujarat) 9:53.19, Anshu (Uttar Pradesh) 9:53.44.
Discus throw: Anisha (Haryana) 49.62m, Riddhi (Haryana) 47.68m, Supriya Attri (NCOE Patiala) 44.74m.
