Hurdler Tejas Shirse started brilliantly in the men’s 110m hurdles final at the National Games on Sunday. At the Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun, he broke the decade-old meet record of compatriot Siddharth Thingalaya after clocking 13.65s, But the hurdler looked a little stretched in the final phase.
This is the third time this year that Shirse has broken a record. Last month the 22-year-old had twice rewritten the national record in the 60m hurdles.
Talking about the last phase of the race, Tejas told The Indian Express, “I haven’t practised at all for the outdoor hurdles as I was focusing on the indoor hurdles to improve my start. That is why my body was a little stretched in the end as I was practising with only five hurdles as compared to ten outdoors.”
The current national record holder in the 110m hurdles, Shirse spent three weeks training in Europe with the elite indoor hurdlers in January. Tejas trained in France and ran a total of eight indoor races (60 metres), including the qualification rounds and finals. He set the current national record of 7.64s in the 60m hurdles during the European stint.
When asked what’s the biggest difference in the training for outdoor and indoor hurdles, Tejas said, “The biggest difference during the training for indoor hurdles and outdoor hurdles is endurance. In the 60m hurdles, one has to just start and finish quickly but in the 110m hurdles, one has to put in more repetitions to sustain that speed.”
Coached by James Hillier, Tejas and women’s 100m national record holder Jyothi Yarraji have focussed on getting off the blocks well during their indoor races.
“The decision to train indoors was a collective decision of me and my coach (James Hillier) as we wanted to improve on the start. Indoor hurdles have helped me make a flawless start in the outdoor hurdles,” Tejas said.
While the year started with indoor training, Tejas has his eyes fixed on the major outdoor competitions starting with the Asian Athletics Championships scheduled in May 2025.
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“My focus for the season is on outdoor competitions. The indoor season and training were just for improvement as it was a quick (indoor) season,” Tejas said.
The hurdler narrowly missed out on the qualification for the Asian Championships (13.56s qualifying standard) on Sunday but is confident of achieving the same once he starts full-fledged outdoor training.
“I know I was close to qualifying today but I don’t mind as I wasn’t completely ready for this event given I am half way to my full preparation. I will qualify in the next event I compete in,” Tejas said.
The hurdler will travel to Australia later this month and is expected to compete in competitions there after his training.
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“I will start training for outdoor hurdles now. I am going to Australia later this month and start doing more and more outdoor hurdle training with the athletes there. My plan is to focus on the rhythm using the ten and twelve hurdles as compared to the five hurdles in the indoor event,” Tejas said.
Tejas has been one of the fastest hurdlers in the country in the past two years and the lack of competition at the national level hampered his chances for the Olympics last year.
But the move to train with elite athletes across the world means that he will have a chance to improve with an aim to qualify for events like World Championships and Asian Athletics Championships.
Key results: Men: 400m: 1. Bapi Hansda (ODI) 46.82s, 2. Vikrant Panchal (Har) 46.92, 3. T.S. Manu (Ker) 47.08; 110m hurdles: 1. Tejas Shirse (Mah) 13.65s, 2. Manav Rajanarayanan (TN) 14.03s, 3. Muhammed Lazan (Ker) 14.23s. High jump: 1. Aadarsh Ram (TN) 2.14m, 2. Swadhin Kumar (Odi) 2.11m, 3. Sudeep (Kar) 2.08m; 4x100m relay: 1. Odisha (39.47s) 2. Tamil Nadu (40.08s), 3. Kerala (40.73s); Decathlon: 1. N. Taufeeq (Ker) 6,915 pts, 2. Yamandeep Sharma (Raj) 6,831 pts, 3. Rohit Roman (AP) 6,753 pts.
