India’s best in track and field events: Meet the national athletics record holders

By Olympics.com
8 min|
Neeraj Chopra GettyImages-1333801033
Picture by 2021 Getty Images

The national marathon mark has been unbroken since 1978 and is the longest-standing Indian athletics record. Five national records, meanwhile, were set at the Olympics.

At Tokyo 2020, Neeraj Chopra clinched India's first-ever athletics medal, that too gold, at the Olympics, thereby shifting the country's focus on track and field events in a big way.

Neeraj Chopra's gold-winning throw of 87.58m, however, wasn't his personal best or the national record for Indian javelin.

Let us look at India's national athletics records across major track and field events.

100m national record

Manikanta Hoblidhar holds the 100m record, courtesy of a timing of 10.23s which he managed at the National Open Athletics Championships held in Bengaluru in 2023.

In the women's category, Dutee Chand holds the 100m national record with a timing of 11.17 seconds, which she achieved at the Indian Grand Prix IV at Patiala in 2021.

200m national record

Amlan Borgohain clocked 20.52 seconds in the men's 200m final of the Federation Cup 2022 to break Muhammed Anas Yahiya's previous national record of 20.63 created at a meet in Czechia in 2018.

In the women's category, Saraswati Saha holds the Indian 200m record with a timing of 22.82, which she achieved at the National Circuit Meet in Ludhiana in 2002.

400m national record

Muhammed Anas Yahiya holds the national record in this event, clocking 45.21, at the Kladno Athletics meet in the Czech Republic in 2019.

In the women's category, Hima Das holds the record with a timing of 50.79, which she achieved at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

800m national record

Jinson Johnson holds the 800m record, which he clocked 1:45.65 at the National Inter-State Championship in Guwahati, 2018.

In the women's category, Tintu Luka holds the record with a timing of 1:59.17, which she achieved at the 2010 Continental Cup in Split, Croatia.

1500m national record

Jinson Johnson is also the current national record holder in 1500m with a timing of 3:35.24 which he set at the ISTAF Berlin meet in 2019.

In the women's category, KM Deeksha holds the record with a timing of 4:04.78, achieved at the 2024 Track Fest athletics meet in Los Angeles.

3000m national record

Surendra Singh holds the national record in 3000m with a timing of 7:50.31, which he achieved at Twickenham, United Kingdom in 2008.

In the women's category, Parul Chaudhary holds the record with a timing of 8:57.19, achieved in a Los Angeles athetics meet in 2022.

5000m national record

Gulveer Singh holds the national record in the men's 5000m. He clocked 13:11.82 at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup 2024 in Japan to set the mark.

In the women's category, Parul Chaudhary holds the NR of 15:10.35, also logged at the Sound Running On Track Fest 2023 in LA. She broke Preeja Sreedharan's old record of 15:15.89, achieved at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, the People's Republic of China.

10000m national record

Gulveer Singh set a national record in the men’s 10,000m by clocking 27:14.88 at the Hachioji Long Distance 2024 meet in Japan.

In the women's category, Preeja Sreedharan holds the record with a timing of 31:50.47, achieved at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

110m hurdles national record

Tejas Shirse holds the national record in the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.41s. He set the mark when he won the race at the the Motonet GP Jyvaskyla athletics meet in Finland in May 2024.

100m hurdles national record

In the women's-only 100m hurdles, Jyothi Yarraji holds the Indian record with a timing of 12.78 seconds. She first set the mark at the FISU World University Games 2023 in Chengdu, China in August and the matched it at the Motonet GP Jyvaskyla athletics meet in Finland in May 2024.

400m hurdles national record

Ayyasamy Dharun broke his own record to set a new national mark with a timing of 48.80 at the 2019 Federation Cup in Patiala.

In the women's category, the legendary PT Usha set the record in the women's 400m hurdles with a timing of 55.42 at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. That record was only matched 39 years later at the Asian Games 2023, when Vithya Ramraj clocked the same time in the heats at Hangzhou.

3000m steeplechase national record

Avinash Sable holds the record in the 3000m steeplechase. He clocked a time of 8:09.91 to finish sixth at the Paris Diamond League 2024.

In the women's category, Parul Chaudhary holds the record with a timing of 9:15.31, achieved at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest.

4×100m relay national record

The Indian team of Rahamatulla Molla, Suresh Sathya, Shameer Mon, A. Qureshi clocked 38.89 at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi to set the national record.

Meanwhile, the women's team of Archana S, Dhanalakshmi, Hima Das and Dutee Chand hold the Indian record with a timing of 43.37, achieved at the Indian GP IV in 2021.

4×400m relay national record

The Indian men's team comprising Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh clocked 2:59.05 at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest to set the 4×400m relay national record. The time is also an Asian record.

Meanwhile, the women's team comprising Chitra Soman, Rajwinder Kaur, K.M. Beenamol and Manjit Kaur hold the record with the timing of 3:26.89, achieved at Athens 2004 Olympics.

4x400m mixed relay national record

Indian quartet of Muhammad Anas, Jyothika Sri Dandi, Muhammad Ajmal and Kiran Pahal set a new national record of 3:12.87s at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships 2024 in Panchkula.

Marathon national record

Shivnath Singh set the national record in a marathon in 1978 in Jalandhar, with the timing of 2:12:00.

O.P Jaisha holds the record in the women's category with a timing of 2:34:43 set at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China.

Half marathon national record

Avinash Sable holds the men's half marathon record, courtesy his 1:00:30 seconds run to win the Indian men's elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2020.

The women's half marathon record, meanwhile, belongs to Suriya Loganathan, who ran a 1:10:31 race at the 2017 Delhi Half Marathon.

20km race walk national record

Akshdeep Singh holds the record in the 20km race walk with a timing of 1:19:55, achieved at the 2023 National Open Race Walking Championships in Jharkhand.

Priyanka Goswami holds the record in the women's category, with a timing of 1:28:45, which she achieved at the 2021 National Race Walking Championships in Ranchi. The feat also earned her a spot at Tokyo 2020.

35km race walk national record

Ram Baboo bettered his own 35km race walk national record at the Dudinska 50 2023 meet in Dudince, Slovakia with a timing of 2:29:56.

Manju Rani holds the national record in the women’s category. Manju Rani clocked 2:57:54 at the National Open Race Walking Championships 2023 in Ranchi and improved on Ramandeep Kaur's record of 3:00:04 set at the National Race Walking Championship in 2022.

50km race walk national record

Sandeep Kumar set the national record in the 50km race walk, with a timing of 3:55:59.5, at the 2017 National Race Walking Championships in New Delhi.

Long jump national record

Jeswin Aldrin holds the national record in the men's long jump event thanks to a 8.42m effort he logged at the Indian Open Throws Competition 2023 at Bellary, Karnataka. He broke Murali Sreeshankar's previous record of 8.36m achieved at the Federation Cup 2022.

Anju Bobby George holds the record, among women, with a jump of 6.83m, achieved at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Triple jump national record

Praveen Chithravel holds the men's triple jump record, with of 17.37m leap at the Prueba de confrontacion 2023 meet in Cuba.

Mayookha Johny holds the record among women with a leap of 14.11m. She set the mark at the Asian Athletics Championships 2011 in Kobe, Japan.

High jump national record

Tejaswin Shankar set the national record with a jump of 2.29m at the Texas Tech Corky/Crofoot Shootout in April 2018.

Sahana Kumari holds the record among women with a jump of 1.92m at the 2012 National Inter-State Championships in Hyderabad.

Pole vault national record

Subramani Siva holds the national record in pole vault with 5.31m set at the National Games 2022. He surpassed his own record of 5.30m set at the 68th Inter-Services Championships in Bangalore in 2018.

Meanwhile, in the women's category, Rosy Meena Paulraj holds the record of 4.21m. The Tamil Nadu pole vaulter registered her mark at the 2022 National Open Athletics Championships, breaking her own previous record of 4.20m, set a few days earlier at the National Games.

Shot put national record

Tajinder Pal Singh Toor threw 21.49m at the Indian Grand Prix IV in Patiala in 2021 to set a new national record. In doing so, he also set a new Asian record.

In the women's event, Abha Khatua holds the record with a throw of 18.41m, achieved at the 2024 Federation Cup. In the process, she broke her own record, which she jointly held with Manpreet Kaur.

Discus throw national record

Vikas Gowda threw the discus 66.28m far to set a national record at the Old Style Discus Challenge in the USA in 2012.

Kamalpreet Kaur holds the record among women with a throw of 66.59m at the 2021 Indian GP4 in Patiala.

Hammer throw national record

Kamalpreet Singh set the record with a throw of 72.86m at the Tucson Elite Classic in 2015.

Among the women, Sarita Singh holds the record with a throw of 65.25m at the 2017 Federation Cup National Championships in Patiala.

Javelin throw national record

Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra set a national record in the javelin with a throw of 89.94m at the 2022 Stockholm Diamond League in Sweden.

Meanwhile, among the women, Annu Rani set the record by throwing her spear 63.82m at the Indian Open Javelin Throw Competition in 2022.

Decathlon national record

Tejaswin Shankar holds the decathlon national record at 7666 points, achieved at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.

Heptathlon national record

JJ Shobha holds the record in heptathlon, notching 6211 points, a feat she achieved in 2004 in New Delhi.

Indian national athletics records - men

Indian national athletics records - women

Indian national athletics records - mixed