Who is Pradeep Senthilkumar? All you need to know about the national record holder 

Pradeep Senthilkumar recently made headlines with his incredible performance at the Dr. Rick McGuire Invitational in Columbia, Missouri, United States. He broke a 17-year-old national record in the 800m short track event, going past Rajeev Ramesan, who earlier held the record with a time of 1:49:46 at the 2008 Asian Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Pradeep topped Ramesan with a timing of 1:48:73 and finished as the topper in all the heats. It was only by a second that Pradeep was able to improve on his previous best, but it was enough for him to set a new national record. The 22-year-old athlete also recorded the fifth fastest time in school history with his stupendous showing at the Dr. Rick McGuire Invitational.

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Pradeep Senthilkumar keeps shining

Born on May 12, 2003, Pradeep made a decent start to the year after winning the title in 400m in the Graduate Classic with a timing of 48.35 at the Bob Devaney Sports Centre in New York. Then, he won the 600m short track title at the Mark Colligan Memorial with a timing of 1:17.71.

Back in 2022, Pradeep bagged the limelight at the 20th edition of the National Federation Under-20 Athletics Championships. Back then, he broke a seven-year-old record in 800m, previously held by Beant Singh, also a former Asian Youth champion.

In the championship, Pradeep earned a gold medal and secured his berth in the Under-20 World Championships in Colombia. In December 2024, Pradeep also competed in the Husker Holiday Open at the Nebraska-Devaney Center in Lincoln.

In the 600m competition, Pradeep had a timing of 1:17.96 as he finished first. In the 4x400m event, Pradeep held the fifth spot in the finals with a timing of 3:20.86.