Vithya Ramraj races to history at Asian Games, equals PT Usha's Los Angeles Olympics National Record in 400m hurdles
Indian track-and-field legend PT Usha and the young Vithya Ramraj, currently engaged at the Asian Games, have something in common — they both know what it means to fall short of history by a fraction of a second.
While PT Usha missed out on what would have been an epoch-making 400m hurdles bronze medal for India at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 by 0.01 seconds, Vithya fell short of equalling the legend's timing — a National Record that still holds — by the exact same margin in Chandigarh last month.
The 25-year-old youngster, however, always looked determined to change things. Hungry for the record, she came into the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games as a major medal prospect and it only took her the Heat 1 race to make a statement.
Standing in Lane 2 for her race early on Monday (October 2) morning, Vithya had her eyes set beyond the finish line. She sprung into action, blazed the field, and finally made up the 0.01 seconds that she had been waiting for.
Vithya finished with a timing of 55.42 seconds, equalling the National Record that PT Usha had set at the Los Angeles Olympics.
And make no mistake, the youngster's effort is no mean feat. The 55.42 seconds for the women's 400m hurdles timing was the second oldest National Record in Indian Athletics - being surpassed only by Shivnath Singh's 1978 marathon timing.
While Vithya Ramraj is yet to react to her momentous feat, she would have known, when she stepped out on the track at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center today, that she was feeling it. This record-equalling performance at the Asian Games was a long time coming.
Vithya Ramraj will look to shatter PT Usha's National Record at the 2022 Asian Games 400m hurdles final
Finishing first in her race, Vithya Ramraj secured a direct qualification — awarded to the top two finishers of each Heat — for the medal round of the 400m hurdles at the 2022 Asian Games.
The Indian, in fact, will go into the final as the second-fastest runner from the qualification rounds behind Oluwakemi Kemi Adekoya. And yet, her biggest competition will not be the Bahrainian Asian record holder, but she herself.
Vithya Ramraj will have her eyes set on breaking the National Record that she now holds, along with PT Usha of course, for the briefest of periods. If the recent past is any indicator, the youngster is not one to dwell in the glory of an achievement for too long. She is far too good to stay content with that.