Paris Olympics: Why India's Fastest 400m Runner Kiran Pahal May Not Be Part of Relay Squad in Paris?

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Making a comeback to the track after a long gap of over a year, Kiran Pahal took part in her first competition of the season, participating in the 63rd National Inter-State Senior Athletics Meet, which is underway at the Tau Lal Devi Stadium, Panchkula.

The 23-year-old put up a sensational display at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships 2024. In the women's 400m semi-final on Thursday, she clocked an astounding 50.92 seconds.

Interestingly, this is the second-best quarter-mile run ever by an Indian woman, with Hima Das (50.79 seconds) holding the record for the first, that she set at the Asian Games in 2018.

While she has made the cut for the individual events Paris 2024 Olympics 400m Indian relay team, mykhel understands that she will not be considered for the relay team, which would love to have someone as fast as her if they want to have any medal hope.

Being the fastest quarter-miler in the country at the moment, she is the one to have in the relay team. While the women's relay team comprising Rupal Chaudhary, MR Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan already qualified, the mixed 4x400m relay team is yet to qualify.

AFI's strict non-campers policy after Nirmala Sheoran 2019 doping violation

After her sensational run, Kiran said she is ready to run for the relay team in Paris, if need be but in all likely she will not be considered by the federation since they have a strict campers-only policy. This is a policy maintained by the AFI where they only pick national campers in the relay squads.

She was a part of national camp in the past but lately has been in and out due to hamstring injury and inconsistent performances. It is unlikely that the AFI will go out of their way to break a strict policy.

The stringent selection policy comes on the back of previous instances of doping among non-campers. Nirmala Sheoran's doping case in 2019 cost India two gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships 2017.

Kiran herself returned after a long break and was impressive in the heats as well, clocking 52.33 seconds. With this display, she also beat her own previous personal best timing of 51.84 seconds. Her run of 50.92 seconds also surpassed the Paris Olympic qualification mark of 50.95 seconds.

She bursted on to the scene in 2022, clocking 51.84 seconds. However, she was inconsistent last year and did not have great performances. She clocked 54.29 seconds at the Indian Open in March last year. Kiran recorded a time of 55.28 seconds at the Federation Cup. As the season came to an end, however, her performance saw a further decline, as she clocked 56.03 seconds at the National Open Championships.

Given her prowess, she knew how to stage a comeback and did so as well. It began with the Haryana Meet this year, where she put up a fine showing, clocking 52.13 seconds. Backing it up with her stellar show at the ongoing National Inter-State Athletics Championships, Kiran also put behind Hima Das's meet record of 51.13 seconds.