Breaching the 10s barrier in 100m — which Indian sprinter will get there first

Manikanta Hoblidhar thought he had it. Having set the national 100m record of 10.23 seconds just a few months earlier at the 2023 Open National Championships, he felt well-positioned to improve on that mark even further. Running in the final of the men’s 100m at the National Games in Goa, the then 21-year-old had begun perfectly. As he surged towards the finish line, he stormed to a lead that had stretched, by his estimate, to some four metres ahead of the rest of the field.

That’s when he felt a twinge in his right hamstring. His momentum all but vanished, and Manikanta eventually limped over the finish line in fourth place. “I still clocked 10.42 seconds after the injury. If I had been able to run all the way through to the finish line, I’m sure I’d have run in less than 10.20 seconds,” he says.

As it stands, 10.23 seconds remains the Indian record in men’s 100m. (This year, the fastest time clocked by an Indian was 10.27 seconds, recorded by Animesh Kujur)

It’s a mark that few are satisfied with. “The 100m is the most important event in international athletics. It’s the one race that everyone watches. There’s no reason the best time in India should be as high as it is,” says Kujur. There’s good reason for this. Manikanta’s national record places him 1427th among 100m sprinters. Among all track and field events, India’s men’s 100m record ranks as the lowest.

It’s a fact that has surprised Martin Owens, head coach of the Reliance Foundation Youth Sport High Performance Centre in Odisha, when he first examined the figures. “I would say that running in India is underdeveloped in comparison with the technical events. So if you take events like the long jump, triple jump, or javelin throw, the national records in India are world-class. The same is not true for the running events, particularly the sprints. You would think it would be the other way around. When I saw that, it didn’t make sense to me. I thought, there must be some running talent in India, there must be!” he says.

The genes argument

While there’s an argument that genetic limitations perhaps explain India’s lack of success in the sprints, not all sports scientists agree. “Everybody used to believe that you had to have West African genes or come from the Caribbean to be a world-class sprinter. Obviously, the last decade has shown us that’s not necessarily true. We had, in Usain Bolt, an athlete who, according to conventional wisdom, had the wrong shape to be a sprinter (Bolt was far taller than most of his compatriots). We had a Chinese sprinter in the 100m finals in Tokyo. The Chinese 4x100m team also won an Olympic medal in Tokyo. I think people are starting to realise that the genetic argument only goes so far in explaining sprint success,” says Christopher Pedra, who has worked for several years in India as a sports scientist.

Pedra notes that Indians don’t even have to look as far as China for inspiration to dismiss the genetic excuse. Just a couple of years ago, Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon clocked a time of 9.96 seconds, becoming the first South Asian to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m — considered one of the gold standards of track excellence.

So why haven’t Indians come anywhere near that mark? And just what will it take for the first Indian to breach that barrier?

According to Gurindervir Singh, who himself clocked 10.27 seconds in 2021 –- the fifth-fastest time ever recorded by an Indian — the problem starts with a lack of self-belief. “No one really believes that Indians can be good sprinters, not even our coaches. I started my athletics career when I was in Class 7. At that time, I was inspired by Usain Bolt. But so many coaches told me that Indians can’t do well in the 100m. They told me that if I wanted to make a career for myself, I should shift to the 400m. We had many Asian Games medals in the 400m but none in the 100m. But I always wanted to change that mentality,” says the 24-year-old.

While Gurindervir says he was always adamant about being a sprinter, he admits that things didn’t get much easier for him. His personal best came three years ago, but since then he has faced two years of recurring injuries. He has only recently started putting together some consistent performances, clocking a time of 10.32 seconds at the National Championships in June this year.

Some of this is inevitable. “The sprint is just violence. The faster you have to run, the more force your body has to generate. And the more force you have to generate, the more force your body has to tolerate. If you are talking about running a 10-second 100m, you are talking about the fastest people in the world. So, you’ve got these people producing the most amount of force, probably more than any other athlete in the world. As they hit the ground, they have to generate force in what we call triple extension — extending the ankles, knees, and glutes simultaneously. Your foot hits the ground, and the ground pushes back with an equal and opposite force. We need athletes to be seriously strong. It’s all well and good saying an athlete is genetically amazing, the coaching is incredible, and they are psychologically strong. But if they’re not able to get to the start line due to injury, none of that matters,” he says.

According to Gurindervir, the injury challenge has been a significant limitation.

“I think you need a lot of support, especially if you are trying to be a sprinter, and that wasn’t really available in India. I started my training in Jalandhar and then at the national camp in Patiala. For a long time, the workouts I followed were the same ones that had been taught by Russian coaches who came to India 20 years ago. I didn’t have any facilities or a physio.

I wouldn’t even dare to push myself in training because I wasn’t sure if my warm-up routine was good enough, and I was always afraid I’d get injured.

Team effort

Gurindervir is far more optimistic about his prospects now. Over the past year, he has been training at the Reliance High Performance Institute in Mumbai. “Right now, I’m training much more systematically. I have a dedicated physio and strength & conditioning advisors working with me. That gives me a lot more confidence,” he says.

There’s more good news. Gurindervir is no longer training alone. In Mumbai, he is training alongside Manikanta, Animesh (PB 10.27), and 200m national record holder Amlan Borgohain (PB 10.25). This marks the first time in Indian track history that the four fastest runners are training together at the same facility.

The national record set by Manikanta Hoblidhar (centre) places him 1427th among 100m sprinters. Among all track and field events, India’s men’s 100m record ranks as the lowest.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu

“It’s a huge help,” says Gurindervir. “When I was in Jalandhar, I didn’t have any runners at the same level as me. I was often training with kids from Class 10 or 12. When you have someone like Manikanta, Animesh, and Amlan, there’s a sense of competition. You get that feeling  ki sabse accha karna hai (you have to do better than the others). That’s a really good place to be in. When we compete together, it will push each one of us even harder,” he says.

With the four runners — all in their early 20s and capable of running in the 10.2-second range — training together, coaches believe the next breakthrough could happen soon, triggering collective improvement across the board.

“I think you are going to see a major improvement in 2025,” says James Hillier, who coaches Gurindervir, Amlan, and Manikanta in Mumbai. “We’re waiting for the first guy to break 10.2. Once that happens, another will break it very quickly afterwards. The next step will be sub-10.1, and then, of course, the magic 10-second barrier. It seems very far away, but that’s where we want to get to,” says Hillier, who previously coached Jyothi Yarraji to a national record and an Asian Games silver medal in the women’s 100m hurdles.

Hillier believes all four are already capable of much faster times than their personal bests. “I don’t think it’s even about ability. I think it’s a matter of belief. One of them has to do it first. Once one achieves it, they all will. They should have done it this year, to be honest. They’re capable of it; they just don’t know how to execute it. That’s what I’m trying to help them do,” he says.

While the gap between 10.2 seconds and the low 10-second range might seem vast, athletes and coaches agree it’s not an insurmountable challenge.

“When you actually measure it, there isn’t a significant difference in the top speed (approximately 37kmph) of an Indian runner clocking 10.25 seconds for the 100m and someone running sub-10 seconds. The difference is that the elite runner reaches that top speed much earlier,” Hillier explains.

Gurindervir goes even further. “There’s actually not that much difference between a 10.2-second and a 9.8-second race. The difference is decided at the start of the race — your reaction time and what happens in the first six strides. The frequency of your feet turning over is critical. That’s what really sets up the rest of your race,” he says.

Prime form: Animesh Kujur clocked the fastest time by an Indian in 2024 — 10.27 seconds. 
| Photo Credit:
K. R. Deepak

This, of course, isn’t exactly the same situation for all of India’s top sprinters. “Each of them is built differently and has distinct running patterns. Gurindervir and Manikanta are very good starters. Animesh and Amlan, on the other hand, are taller so they will never have as strong a start. However, they have the ability to make a lot of ground towards the second half of the race,” says Hillier.

Lofty goals

Hillier is particularly optimistic about 21-year-old Animesh, citing the Trofeo de Atletismo Ciudad de Salamanca Memorial race in Spain earlier this June. Kujur competed against two Cuban runners — Shainer Reginfo and Reynaldo Espinosa — both of whom clocked sub-10-second times (Shainer at 9.90 and Reynaldo at 9.96). “Animesh started poorly and was trailing by five or six metres within the first 20 metres of the race. But he was closing in on them at the end. That showed his top speed was probably faster than those two guys who ran 9.90. He just hasn’t figured out how to structure his race yet. Once he does, he will run seriously fast,” Hillier says.

It is with this optimism that all four sprinters are heading into the 2025 season. One of Hillier’s targets for them is a medal at the 2025 Asian Championships. “The 4x100m relay is one event where the team can really go and get a medal. That would give these four guys some real confidence in their individual abilities,” he says.

Hillier says he isn’t putting a number as a goal just yet. “We talk about the 10-second barrier, but it’s just an arbitrary number, isn’t it? We give it importance because it’s a nice, round figure and put pressure on ourselves to beat it. But there’s no real reason to care about it more than, say, 9.9 or 10.2,” he says.

Arbitrary or not, it’s a number all four sprinters admit is always on their minds. “Sometimes, I dream of running exactly 10 seconds at a major competition,” says Manikanta, who aims to clock under 10.20 seconds at the National Games in January 2025 and push close to 10.1 at the Asian Championships.

He doesn’t see the task as daunting as it once was.

“There was a time when people thought Indians couldn’t do well in javelin either. It was so hard for an Indian to even cross 80m. Now, so many are achieving it. I think it will be the same for the 100m as well,” he says.