[Watch] Rajesh Ramesh clocks 400m season best of 45.54 seconds in Poland ahead of Paris Olympics 2024

With the Paris Olympics 2024 starting in a few days, sprinter Rajesh Ramesh has achieved a personal milestone as he clocked a season-best time of 45.54 seconds to finish first in the 400m race at an athletics meet in Poland.

Ramesh, who had previously won a gold medal in the mixed 4x400m relay event at the 2022 Asian Games, was given close competition by a Polish runner but emerged victorious in the final few meters.

Other than Rajesh Ramesh, fellow 2022 Asian Games gold medalists Muhammad Ajmal and Muhammed Anas finished in the third and fourth positions, respectively, with timings of 45.69 seconds and 45.93 seconds. Another Asian Games gold medalist, Amoj Jacob, finished fifth with a timing of 46.0 seconds.

Rajesh Ramesh’s performance would be extremely good news for the athletics fans in India, as the 25-year-old seems to have recovered well from the injury that he sustained at the World Relays Championships

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Besides Rajesh Ramesh, Kiran Pahal clocks his personal best time ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024

Other than Rajesh Ramesh, Kiran Pahal also registered a personal best timing, finishing the women’s 200m event with a time of 23.3 seconds, ahead of India’s No. 1 ranked Jyothi Yarraji (23.53 seconds).

Kiran, who usually competes in the 400m event and is the only athlete to win a quota in 400m individual at the Paris Olympics 2024, opened at 200m for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Joythi Yarraji, who will be the sole hurdler representing India at this year’s summer Olympics, had qualified for the finals of the women’s 100m hurdles event but chose to skip it in favor of the 200m event.

In the women’s 400m event, India had two podium finishes in the form of Jyothika Sri Dandi and Vithya Ramraj, who finished second and third with timings of 52.32 seconds and 53.18 seconds, respectively. Subha Venkatesan finished fourth with a timing of 53.19 seconds.

India will have 29 athletes in the track and field events of the Paris Olympics 2024, which will be the largest contingent representing the nation. The athletics events will be held between August 1 and August 11.