Animesh Kujur secures historic spot at World Athletics Championships 2025 with gold in Chennai

22-year-old sprinter Animesh Kujur from Chhattisgarh has created history as he confirmed his place for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, which is slated to be held in Tokyo from September 13 to 21. He won the men’s 200m gold at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai on Saturday, August 23 to book his spot.

Animesh Kujur creates history

Kujur registered a timing of 20.63 seconds to win the top prize in the event. He has been in great form this year. Kujur broke both 100m and 200m national records and also won a bronze medal at the Asian Athletics Championships. He even got the chance to run at the U-23 200m race in the Monaco Diamond League, which is one of the biggest stages in world athletics.

Kujur’s coach Martin Owens was full of praise after the Chennai win. “I am very happy with the long season. We didn’t expect to break the national record so early in the season. With his win he has consolidated his place further for the World Championships and it is a fantastic achievement.”

“It has been a successful season for him. He broke individual national records and was part of the relay team also. So, I see going to Tokyo as a bonus. There is no expectation on him to perform there. He is going just for the experience, to get a feel on how it is to race at the World Championships and rub shoulders with the greats of the game. When he goes next time, then there should be expectations,” Owens said.

Before the World Championships, Kujur is expected to take some rest and have a short training camp. He had already done some training in Switzerland earlier this year. The focus now will be to keep him fresh for Tokyo.

Earlier this year, Kujur broke the 200m national record at the Federation Cup in Kochi. Later, he broke the 100m national record with 10.18 seconds in the Dromia International Sprint and Relays Meeting in Greece.

Chennai athletics meet results

Tamil Nadu’s Dhanalakshmi Sekar also grabbed a gold in the women’s 200m. In the women’s long jump event, Moumita Mondal of West Bengal scored an upset win as she took gold with an effort of 6.27m, pushing Shaili Singh of Uttar Pradesh (6.18m) to second spot. Sherin A of Tamil Nadu won the bronze with a jump of 6.16m.

This event, which concludes Sunday, is the last domestic meet for the Indian athletes to achieve the qualification mark/time for the World Championships. August 24 is the deadline to qualify for the Worlds in most events.

Results: Women 200m: Dhana Lakshmi (Tamil Nadu) 23.53 seconds, Shivani Saini (Uttar Pradesh) 24.04 seconds, Sakshi Chavan (Gujarat) 24.05 seconds.

800m: Pooja (Haryana) 2:02.27 seconds, Huidrom Devi (Manipur) 2:04.44 seconds, Thota S (Chhattisgarh) 2:04.56 seconds.

400m hurdles: Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) 58.90 seconds, Olimba Steffi (Tamil Nadu) 59.21 seconds, Deekshit R (Karnataka) 1:00.09 seconds.

Discus throw: Seema (Haryana) 57.18m, Bhavana Yadav (Delhi) 51.61m, Priya (Haryana) 48.96m.

Javelin throw: Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 61.05m, Deepika (Haryana) 75.19m, Karishma Sanil (Karnataka) 51.30m.

Long jump: Moumita Mondal (West Bengal) 6.27m, Shaili Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 6.18m, Sherin A (Tamil Nadu) 6.16m.

Men: 200m: Animesh Kujur (Odisha) 20.63 seconds (meet record, improved his own record of 20.65 seconds set in 2024), Ragul Kumar (Tamil Nadu) 20.92 seconds, Amlan Borgohain (Assam) 21.19 seconds.

800m: Krishan Kumar (Haryana) 1:48.41 seconds, Tushar Bhekane (Karnataka) 1:48.82 seconds, Prakash Gadade (Maharashtra) 1:48.86 seconds.

400m hurdles: Ruchit Mori (Gujarat) 49.76 seconds, Subhas Das (West Bengal) 50.61 seconds, Hardeep (Punjab) 51.03 seconds.

High jump: Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) 2.24m, Aadarsh Ram (Tamil Nadu) 2.21m, Swadhin Kumar Majhi (Odisha) 2.18m.

Shot put: Samardeep Gill (Madhya Pradesh) 19.82m, Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Punjab) 19.41m, Aniket (Uttarakhand) 18.09m.

(With agency inputs)