Athletes waiting for the screen to show their respective timings at the end of a race is a very common sight. However, when the men’s 400m final in the 64th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships concluded on Thursday, there was an added level of excitement.
The sparse crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, as well as the quartermilers on the track, knew that they had potentially witnessed something special.
After an anxious wait which lasted for a minute, the screen showed – “Vishal TK – Tamil Nadu – 45.12s” at the top.
The 21-year-old Vishal had just broken a six-year-old National Record of 45.21s, which belonged to Kerala’s Muhammed Anas.
A delighted Vishal took out his bib and showed it to the group of photographers waiting to capture every second of this historic moment. And then, he turned the paper, displaying the other side where he had written – “For my coach Jason,” referring to Jason Dawson, the head coach of the 4x400m men’s national relay team.
Dawson had started coaching Vishal less than a year ago as he looked to find talented youngsters to build a new relay team after the Paris Olympics. Vishal’s staggering improvement is a result of the relentless training done under the watchful eyes of the Jamaican.
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In 2025 alone, Vishal has recorded sub-46 seconds timings five times.
Dawson embraced Vishal after the race and said, “Vishal is a special young man. He listens, learns quickly and is not afraid to work and that’s why you saw the result today.”
Vishal’s statemate Rajesh Ramesh clinched the silver medal while Haryana’s Vikrant Panchal took the final place on the podium.
Gujarat’s Devyaniba Zala bagged the women’s 400m title. In women’s 1500m, Haryana’s Pooja clocked a new season’s best timing of 4:10.68s to win the gold medal and gain crucial points in her bid to qualify for next’s World Championships through the rankings route.
“I could have gone even faster had there been better competitors in the field,” said the Asian Championships silver medallist, referring to the absence of KM Deeksha, the National Record holder.
Tejas Shirse, the National Record holder in men’s 110m hurdles, and Moumita Mandal, the title favourite for women’s 100m hurdles in the absence of the injured National Record holder Jyothi Yarraji, topped their heats and comfortably qualified for the finals.
Results (Finals only)
Men
400m: Gold – Tamil Nadu’s Vishal TK (45.12s), Silver – Tamil Nadu’s Rajesh Ramesh (46.04s), Bronze – Haryana’s Vikrant Panchal (46.17s)
1500m: Gold – UP’s Yoonus Shah (3:41.22s), Silver – UP’s Ajay Saroj (3:41.55s), Bronze – MP’s Arjun Waskale (3:42.86s)
Decathlon: Gold – Tamil Nadu’s Stalin Joes S (7052 points), Silver – Maharashtra’s Kushal Mohite (6976 points), Bronze – Haryana’s Kamal Dhankhar (6820 points)
Discus Throw: Gold – Chandigarh’s Kirpal Singh (55.00m), Silver – Haryana’s Nirbhay Singh (53.62m), Bronze – Haryana’s Ujjawal Choudhary (53.23m)
Women
Pole Vault: Gold – Tamil Nadu’s Baranica Elangovan (4.10m), Silver – Kerala’s Mariya Jaison (4.05m), Bronze – Tamil Nadu’s Sathya Tamilarasan (4.00m)
Shot Put: Gold – Rajasthan’s Kachnar Chaudhary (15.75m), Silver – UP’s Vidhi (15.30m), Bronze – Haryana’s Shiksha (15.18m)
400m: Gold – Gujarat’s Devyaniba Zala (53.37s), Silver – Kerala’s Anankha B A (53.84s), Bronze – UP’s Prachi (53.96s)
1500m: Gold – Haryana’s Pooja (4:10.68s), Silver – Uttarakhand’s Lili Das (4:12.47s), Bronze – Punjab’s Amandeep Kaur (4:21.37s)
Published on Aug 21, 2025
