From Guiding Simran Sharma to Paralympic Glory to KIUG 2025 Silver: Meet Abhay Singh, India’s Fastest Junior Sprinter

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Teenage sprinter Abhay Singh is not a regular 19-year-old athlete. At the Khelo India University Games 2025 in Jaipur, he won silver in the men's 200m with a time of 21.52 seconds, confirming his status as one of India's brightest young sprinters.

But what most people still don't know is that Abhay already owns a World Para Athletics Championships gold medal and a Paralympic bronze, earned while running as a guide to Arjuna Award-winning para athlete Simran Sharma.

His career has taken an extraordinary path-from running marathons in Ujjain as a schoolboy to being guided by his mother's early instincts, to shifting base to the Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics HPC in Bhubaneswar, where he trains under coach Martin Owens.

Abhay, isn't your regular 19-year-old young boy, has travelled across the world before even turning 20 and has seen, upfront, how elite athletes and para athletes conduct themselves inside stadiums: how they warm up, how they manage pressure, and how they prepare through major championships. These experiences, absorbed quietly through observation during his teens, have shaped him into an athlete far more mature than his age suggests.

Today, Abhay is the fastest Indian U20 athlete in 200m (21.18s in 2025) and the second fastest in U20 100m (10.50s in 2025), this season. He has been training alongside Animesh Kujur, currently India's fastest athlete in 100m and 200m, and learning the nuances from the best. He even credits Kujur for constantly motivating him to do well.

Abhay's journey is a blend of talent, maturity, and relentless belief that he can compete with India's best seniors even before turning 20. Here are the excerpts:

Q: Abhay, first of all, tell us about your journey. How did you get into athletics and sprinting?

Abhay Singh: As of sprinting, I was in Jaipur and there was a coach over there. When you are a kid, you can see how athletic you are. So my mom saw that and she was like - let's put it on a good note. So she sent me towards athletics. The coach over there... you know what happens in the ground base. So I used to do the same. I used to go to nationals and all.

Nowadays, the AFI has removed the seniors who play in juniors, but it wasn't like that before. At that time I used to get last... seniors were playing with juniors. It hit me that I want to train like this so I can compete with seniors even though I am a junior. Still I have this in my mind.

Ujjain is not a very big city... but there used to be marathons. My mom used to say go and compete - what if I would have been a good marathon runner? I did some sprinting and all there. 400 and all. So my sprinting journey started from there too.

Q: You won silver in the 200m at KIUG 2025. Are you disappointed or happy with the medal?

Abhay: I am taking this very optimistically. What if I would have been third? I would have felt worse. But it's silver, I am happy. I learned my lesson. When I came here, I was like - it's gold. But now it's silver. It's kind of disappointing, but I am happy with it.

Q: Indian sprinting has grown a lot in recent years. Why do you think timings are improving?

Abhay: The government and people are showing interest in sports in India. Infrastructure is good... AFI is supporting, the government is supporting. An athlete can just focus on his sport and do better. Credit also goes to the wave of maturity among athletes nowadays. The mature athletes are performing well - Manikanta (Hoblidar), Animesh (Kujur), Amlan (Borgohain). When a senior achieves a good level, the junior will chase him. That will take the athletics level up in India.

Q: You train with elite sprinters like Animesh. What do you learn from him?

Abhay: It's funny because he's sitting over there right now! He teaches us things, he taught me how to be a professional. I was immature (when I started training under Odisha Sports)... just doing drills. He taught me that whatever you are doing, do it with a purpose. He constantly motivates me. He pushes me a lot. Even, before the 200m race here, he was like - okay, let's do it. Even though I ran 21.5, he said "good season's best".

Q: How is the training atmosphere in Odisha?

Abhay: It's the best in India, I will say. The environment is what everybody wants. Even the staff, coach, athletes... nobody talks negative. Everybody wants you to do better. It's a very good vibe. Coach (Owens) and Animesh bhaiya, they both sit together, and they plan (our training and routines) sometimes. So, it helps us.

Q: What have you learned from your coach, Martin Owens?

Abhay: There is one line that Martin usually uses - why train to be normal when you can be the best?. And he wants us to celebrate the small things. In India we don't celebrate things, but he tells us to celebrate even a small achievement and cherishing those small moments help us.

Q: You already have a Paralympics bronze and a World Championship gold as Simran Sharma's guide. Tell us about that experience.

Abhay: As a guide runner, it's a very different topic... you are not just one person, you are two persons. For me it was a very cool experience, I loved it. World Championship - we got gold in the 200m. In Paris Olympics, we got bronze in the 200m. It was kind of disappointing because we trained for the 100 and thought we could fight for gold.

The environment (in World Championships and Paris 2025) was very good. It's totally different from the Junior and Youth. Because when you look at the other athletes, the other country's athletes. You will see how they are doing something. It's so professional, (the way) they are doing it. So, I learnt many things from there. The way they behave, the focus level when they are on track. It was a very good experience and I learnt a lot over there.

She (Simran) is like my big sister. And Gajju (Naik Gajendra Singh, her husband) is like my big brother. They love me a lot, I love them a lot. It was a great experience with them.

Q: Finally, what are your goals for 2026?

Abhay: So the plan for 2026 - for the 200, I want to run sub-21. Because it was kind of disappointing... I kept on saying that I will run sub-21, sub-21. And my coach was also trying to help me with that. But I was not able to run sub-21.

So my target for 2026 will be sub-21 (in 200m), qualify for the Asian Games. And for the 100, I want to do better. I could have done... this time if I would have run, I wanted to run 10.3 secs. Right now I am taking small goals and then I will proceed with the big ones. So next year, 100m target will be sub-10.3 and for the 200, sub-21.