10.18 seconds.
Read that timing. Savour it. For the first time ever, an Indian has run the 100m in the 10.1s. On Saturday evening, Animesh Kujur rocked up to the Dromia International Sprint & Relays meeting in Greece and blew through his heat in 10.18s. National record broken, an invisible barrier brushed aside.
Animesh Kujur breaks the 100m national record �� ��
He clocked a time of 10.18 seconds at the Dromia International Sprint and Relays Meeting in Greece, and now holds the national records for both 100m and 200m ��
Video courtesy: RFYS pic.twitter.com/Upa8dECuiS
- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) July 6, 2025
For the larger world of sprinting this may not sound like much. After all, the world record is a whole universe away at 9.58s and last year's Olympics 100m final saw a slowest time of 9.91s and a fastest of 9.79s... but in India, there is a quiet sprinting revolution happening, and Animesh dipping into the 10.1s is proof that another leap has been made.
Four athletes, all currently working with the Reliance Foundation, are at the forefront of this upheaval - Animesh, Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Amlan Borgohain. Animesh broke the 100m record set by Gurindervir earlier this year, who in turn had broken Manikanta's set last year. Animesh, also the 200m national record holder, had taken that one from Amlan. The four together also hold the 4x100m relay national record. It's a fast pack who chase each other around the track week-in, week-out and are collectively bringing the light of optimism to the previously deep-in-the-shadows world of Indian sprinting.
Even amongst them, though, Animesh has always stood out. And it's not just his muscular 6'2" frame. There's a roll to his running stride that is pleasing to the eye, it look like he's gliding rather than huffing-and-puffing. It has the most appealing of sporting traits - making the arduous look effortless.
More than that, there's a swagger to the 22-year-old from Chhattisgarh that's very becoming -- it doesn't look put on, just natural, a presence that commands attention but doesn't distract from the primary element of his aura: the speed. Look at the way he finishes races, the top speeds he hits, whether it be the 100 or the 200, and you can see what all the hype is about.
A couple of months back, when he'd blitzed the 200m in 20.40s to get that NR, his coach Martin Owens of the Odisha Reliance Foundation high performance centre had said that he could go much faster. A footballer-turned-sprinter, Animesh started taking the sport seriously only six years ago but has made massive strides since. His association with Owens has now made him, indisputably, India's fastest man.
Owens worked on his weaknesses, the start and the bend. "When he first came to me, he couldn't run a good bend," said Owens at the Fed Cup. "[Even] two years ago, everything was wrong at the bend." As for the start, he started making him run more 100s -- where that top line speed of his which saw him win 200s easily wouldn't kick in till too late... unless he got a good start. It helps that he now trains with the likes of Manikanta and Gurindervir, both explosive starters, as well as Amlan, a superb bend runner.
At the time, Owens had said, "we don't know how fast he can go; we are just scratching the surface when it comes to ability." Since then, Animesh has broken the 200m record again (20.32s) enroute becoming just the second Indian to win a men's 200m medal at the Asian Athletics Championship. Impressively, it was his first ever international level competition wearing India colours. And now this NR in Greece.
It's all part of the plan. Owens had said it was important that he compete with runners faster than him. "We need lots of guys running fast, we need fast races," he'd said. "There's no substitute to running with quicker runners." It's simple logic: why would you run faster if you've already beaten everyone halfway into a race? The only way to get faster, to prepare for the big competitions, is to pit yourself against whom even giving your 100% won't do. Even if he lost, Owens felt that the competitor in Animesh would push him to go even harder the next time. "He went [to Europe] last year too, [lost a few races], and came back a better athlete."
It's that competitor within, that fire, that gives those watching keenly the confidence that this is merely the start for Animesh. It's not just the lightning bolt celebration pose that he's taken away from years of idolising the great Usain Bolt, it's that insatiable desire to go faster, to beat everyone around him. Like when he clocked that 20.40s in Kochi and said he wanted to become the first Indian to dip below 20. Or like when he won that historic AAC bronze in South Korea and told journalists that he was disappointed it wasn't the Indian anthem blaring out of the speakers as he stood on the podium.
And so, as we celebrate the 10.18s and all that it means, do get ready to get set and go all over again. Animesh Kujur ain't done yet, not even close.