Animesh Kujur rules the tracks at 38th National Games with 3 gold medals

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As the state's campaign for athletics concludes at the ongoing National Games 2025 in Uttarakhand, Odisha has emerged as a force to reckon with on the track and field. Odisha has bagged 4 gold and 1 silver medals across track and field events, with the relay team clocking a timing of 39.47 secs and creating a new National Games record.

Sprinter Animesh Kujur emerged as the fastest man in the games, clinching gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m sprint event as he equalled Amlan Borgohain's National Games 100m record of 10.28 seconds.

"I could not have been happier and had a better start to this season. I had prepared hard for this and cannot thank my coach enough for this. Today is the best day of my life," gushed the 23-year-old after winning his third gold in Uttarakhand.

Odisha's 4x100m relay team comprising of Animesh Kujur, Dondapati M Jayaram, Lalu Prasad Bhoi and veteran Amiya Mallick also struck gold with their outing in Uttarakhand, with a National Games record to their credit. Odisha's athletics contingent has won a total of 4 gold medals and a silver at the 38th edition of the championship, it's best performance in years.

But, Bapi Hansda's 400m gold has to go down as the biggest comeback story in the games this year. After a year marred with injuries and visa issues, Bapi opened this season with a gold in his maiden Senior national games. 'This was so unexpected that I feel over the moon. Never had I thought, I would end up winning the gold medal with a personal best timing. I have no words to express my happiness, but my focus will be on the Commonwealth Games next year', shared Bapi gleefully.

In the men's high jump event, Swadhin Majhi upgraded his bronze in the previous edition to a silver in the current one. 'The weather here helped us a lot in recovering quickly and lessening the margin of error. It has been a very fulfilling experience to compete and win laurels for my state in Uttarakhand,' shared an elated Swadhin.

However, nothing can match Head Coach of the Odisha-Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre Martin Owen's delight. 'The results have been as per expectations for us although, we lost out on a medal in the 4x400 due to Bapi's unfortunate injury, going back with 4 gold medals as Odisha dominated the tracks, makes me a very satisfied man,' said Owens.