Animesh Kujur’s relentless pursuit of excellence has made him India’s new sprint sensation, but he isn’t resting on his laurels just yet. The 22-year-old from Chhattisgarh, who holds the national records for both the 100m and 200m, now has his eyes set firmly on securing his place at this year’s World Championships in Tokyo. And he wants to get it done before he boards his flight home from Europe — ideally at the Monaco Diamond League.
Kujur will next be seen blazing the track in Monaco on July 11, competing in the men’s 200m race among the world’s top under-23 sprinters.
My target is to qualify while competing in Europe itself because I know I won’t get fierce competition in India to push myself. I will be tension-free then and won’t have to worry about rankings.
The Qualification Scenario
To automatically qualify for the 200m, athletes must clock 20.16 seconds or remain within the top 48 in the world rankings before the qualification window closes on August 24. Kujur, currently ranked 40th, is tantalisingly close.
To meet the timing standard, he needs to shave off 0.16 seconds from his personal best of 20.32, set at the 2025 Asian Championships — where he broke his own national record of 20.40, which had earlier erased Amlan Borgohain’s mark.
I am going to compete in the Diamond League on Friday. Then there is a silver-level meet in Lucerne on July 15, followed by the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr.
In the Fast Lane
Kujur’s meteoric rise over the last five years reached a new high in Greece recently when he shattered Gurindervir Singh’s 100m national record. His blistering 10.18 seconds made him the first Indian sprinter to go under 10.20.
Though qualifying for the 100m at the World Championships remains a long shot — the cut-off stands at 10.00 seconds — his team is leaving no stone unturned. His current 100m world ranking is 342, making a last-minute qualification improbable.
Expert Help and New Insights
Behind Kujur’s steady improvement is a team that includes Martin Owens, head coach at the Reliance Foundation, and renowned bobsleigh coach Chris Woolley in Switzerland.
I am working with Chris Woolley, strength and conditioning coach of the Swiss Winter Olympics bobsleigh team. He is analysing my body mechanics, my start, everything. I’ve done a few tests to see where I’m lacking.
It might sound like a perfect fit for someone with a degree in nuclear physics, but he laughs off the suggestion. “I took the subject because I liked it. Thoda bhaari naam lagta hai na, isiliye (It sounds like a heavy name, that’s why).”
Woolley’s focus has been to help Kujur get explosive off the blocks—a crucial edge when races are decided by fractions of a second.
The work of Owens and Woolley is evident not just in his timings but also in his ability to maintain form across a gruelling season.
That is all because of my coach’s load and deload plan so I don’t lose power and stay in form. I would say earlier I never had the mindset of coming this far. Owens makes me feel like an international athlete in every aspect. He says we must qualify by hitting the standard, not by depending on rankings because those keep moving.
Big Dreams, Simple Beginnings
When Kujur graduated school in 2020, he was a rookie footballer with no intention of sprinting professionally. But a casual nudge from friends to try a state athletics meet changed everything.
Five years later, he is India’s fastest man and a double national-record holder. Yet he still rues missing out on the Paris Olympics, something he attributes to “lack of proper planning” around which tournaments to target.
But he’s determined to script a different story this time. “This time you will definitely see me running at the Olympics,” he promised before signing off.
