National Open Athletics: Ankita Breaks 3,000m Steeplechase Record

Ankita stole the spotlight on the final day of the 65th National Open Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here, breaking a decade-old meet record in the women's 3,000m steeplechase. Jishnu Prasad of All India Police also bettered the meet record in the men's 200m, clocking 20.62 seconds to win gold and surpass the previous mark of 20.66 seconds set by B Nitin in Bengaluru in 2024.

Representing Railway, Ankita won gold in 9:34.86 seconds, improving on Lalita Babar's meet record of 9:39.83 set in Kolkata in 2015. She led the race from start to finish.

"I could have clocked better time. But there was no one to challenge me in the race today," Ankita said during the post-race interaction.

The national record in the women's 3,000m steeplechase belongs to Parul Chaudhary, who clocked 9:08.67.

Sharuk Khan narrowly misses men's steeplechase record

Earlier, Sharuk Khan narrowly missed the meet record of 8:29.80 set by Avinash Sable in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in 2018. Khan finished the men's 3,000m steeplechase in 8:30.54 and 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 (Railway) 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 (Railway) 8:30.54, Prince Raj Mishra (Railway) 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 (Railway) 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: Railway 3:06.36 seconds, SSCB 3:06.59 seconds, Tamil Nadu 3:08.29 seconds.

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 (Railway) 58.40 seconds, Harshitha R (Tamil Nadu) 59.51 seconds, Deekshita (Karnataka) 59.57 seconds.

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

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

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

4x400m relay: Railway 3:38.40 seconds, Haryana 3:40.29 seconds, Tamil Nadu 3:43.99 seconds.

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