Deeksha breaks 1500m National mark in LA meet

National athletes achieve impressive results in various track and field events, narrowly missing records and showcasing exceptional talent.

Asian Games champion Annu Rani opened her season with a decent 60.68m effort while finishing sixth in the Hylo Javelin Throw Meeting in Offenburg, Germany, on Sunday.

The National record-holder with 63.82m, Annu’s best came in her last throw. Adriana Vilagos, the under-20 World champion from Serbia, won the gold with 63.58m.

Earlier, on Saturday, K.M. Deeksha bettered her personal best by more than a second as she broke Harmilan Bains’ three-year-old 1500m National record at the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles.

The 25-year-old who shocked Harmilan (National record 4:05.39) and won the Inter-State National gold in Bhubaneswar last year, clocked 4:04.78s (previous best 4:06.07s) while finishing third in Los Angeles. American Kristlin Gear, the US National 3000m steeplechase champion, won in a personal best 4:03.65s.

Meanwhile Avinash Sable, the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games silver medallist, narrowly missed breaking his National record while finishing second in the 5000m in 13:20.37s (National record 13:19.37) while Gulveer Singh (13:31.65) was fifth.

In the women’s 5000m, Asian Games champion Parul Chaudhary was fifth in 15:10.69s and Ankita (15:28.08) was 10th. Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the women’s 5000m gold in 14:58.83s.

Kartik Kumar was second in the men’s 10,000m in 28:07.66s and in the women’s 10,000m Seema (32:45.61s) and Sanjivani Jadhav (32:50.12) finished 12th and 13th respectively.