World Athletics U20 Championships 2022: India's 4x400m mixed relay team won silver with an Asian record of 3:17.76

The Indian contingent opened their account at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia by winning a silver medal in the 4x400m mixed relay event. According to information reaching here, Barath Sridhar, Priya Mohan, Kapil and Rupal Chaudhary clocked 3:17.76, an Asian record in the evening session of the championships on August 2.

The Indian athletes gave their best and it was a close contest for the gold medal. On their way to winning the 4x400m mixed relay gold medal, the USA team further lowered their championship record to 3:17.69 seconds. Jamaica took home the bronze medal with a time of 3:19.98.

The Indian 4x400m mixed relay team clocked an excellent time of 3:19.62 seconds, also an Asian record in the preliminary round on the opening day of the competition on August 1.

Earlier in the morning session on August 2, Rupal and Priya qualified for the individual 400m event. Rupal clocked 52.50 seconds in her 400m heats to enter the semifinal round scheduled for August 3. Priya’s best time in the heats was 52.56 seconds. She has also qualified for the semifinals.

Indian athletes Simmy, Ashakiran fail to impress in U20 Championships 2022

India’s Simmy clocked an average time of 1:02.58 seconds to finish last in the 400m hurdles heats and bow out of the competition. The Indian low hurdler finished 38th in the field of 43 athletes. Italy’s Ludovica Cavo topped the qualifying chart with a time of 57.77 seconds.

India’s Ashakiran Barla also failed to make an impression in the semifinals of the women’s 800m race. She finished fifth in the semis with a time of 2:06.86 to bow out of the competition as the first two in each of the three semifinal races and two fastest runners enter the final.

The World U20 fastest runner Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won 100m gold with a World U20 record of 9.91 seconds.

Jamaica’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie won silver with a national record of 10.02 seconds. While South Africa’s Benjamin Richardson took home bronze with a time of 10.12 seconds.

Thailand’s Puripol Boonson was the fastest Asian finishing fourth at 10.12 seconds. Malaysia’s Muhd Azeem Fahmi was fourth with a time of 10.14 and Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita sixth in 10.24 seconds.