Elaine Thompson advised me to run on sand to improve my timing, says Dutee Chand

Hyderabad, October 28: Indian sprinter Dutee Chand insists she took home significant gains from the World Championships in London despite her poor performance in the August event, where she finished last in the 100m qualifying round.

Chand, who became the first female sprinter from the country after PT Usha to qualify for the Olympics in 36 years, said she learnt a lot by watching the world's best sprinters train during the week-long stay in London.

Speaking from her residence in Gopalpur, Odisha, Chand said on Friday: "Before the competition, we were training on the same practice track as the other top sprinters. I had the rare opportunity to meet Elaine Thompson, the gold medal winning sprinter from Jamaica. She was very friendly. Having learned that I am from India, she offered some valuable advice on how to improve my timing."

Chand says Thompson asked her to run on sand and subsequently, Chand has been doing laps on sand for the last couple of days in tracks near Gopalpur. "For the next two weeks, Dutee will undergo extensive training on sand. It helps increase her leg strength and subsequently helps her push with more speed. After these two weeks, she will return to Hyderabad and we will resume altitude training. This is what Thompson had advised her during the World Championship," Chand's coach, Nagapuri Ramesh, told reporters in Hyderabad on Friday (October 27).

Next, Chand hopes to qualify for the Birmingham World Indoor Championship, which will be held in the first week of March 2018. The qualifying mark for the 60m dash event is 7.30 seconds. She then plans a good show in 2018 Commonwealth Games in April as well as the Asian Games in Indonesia in August 2018.

Commenting on Dutee's preparation for the World Indoor Championship, Ramesh said: "Dutee already holds the national record for an indoor event when she clocked 7.28 in the 60m dash at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha last year. Naturally, in a bid to improve the timing, Dutee has been practising short-sprints. Within a couple of weeks, she will resume altitude training in Gachibowli."