India’s Priya Mohan wins gold at Geneva athletics meet; Jyothi Yarraji betters national record in Loughborough
Priya Mohan beat Tokyo Olympian Lemmens Silke of Switzerland to the finish while Jyothi Yarraji broke the 100m hurdles record for the second time this month.
In what was an eventful weekend for Indian athletes competing in Europe, runner Priya Mohan won the women’s 400m gold medal at the CSI League National inter-club athletics meet in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday.
Priya Mohan, a junior world championships relay bronze medallist, clocked 52.93s to upset Tokyo Olympian Lemmens Silke of Switzerland, who claimed silver with a timing of 53.45. Another Swiss, Senn Giulia, bagged bronze with a 54.73s.
The 19-year-old Priya Mohan, who is fast establishing herself as India’s premier women’s 400m runner, was the only international competitor in an all-Swiss field. Mohan, however, wasn’t the only Indian competing in Europe over the weekend.
Loughborough International Athletics meet
Jyothi Yarraji continued her good run in the 100m hurdles this year. Having broken a 20-year-old national record in the discipline earlier this month at a Cyprus meet, Jyothi Yarraji bettered her own record en route to a gold medal win at the Loughborough International Athletics 2022 in England
Jyothi Yarraji clocked 13.11 seconds in the 100m hurdles to better her previous personal best of 13.23 seconds. Great Britain’s Jessica Hunter (13.26) and Alicia Barrett (13.35) finished second and third, respectively.
Siddhant Thingalaya, meanwhile, finished second in the 110m hurdles with a 13.97-second run. The Indian finished behind Nigeria’s Alex Al-Ameen (13.86) and ahead of Edson Gomes of Portugal (14.02). Siddhant’s personal best in the event is a national record of 13.48, clocked in 2017.
Earlier, Mohammad Afsal withdrew from the 800m race as he was unwell.
Men’s 200m national record holder Amlan Borgohain finished fifth in the guest run at the Loughborough athletic meet with a timing of 21.27s. Gold medal winner Joe Ferguson clocked 20.63s. Borgohain, who only recently recovered from a fever, has a personal best of 20.52s in the 200m.
Former national swimmer-turned-hurdler Graceson Amaldas won the under-20 men’s 110m hurdles guest race at Loughborough International, finishing his run in 13.91 seconds.
Castiglione Della Pescaia athletics meet
At the XII International Meeting of ‘Castiglione Della Pescaia’ at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, Jeswin Aldrin managed to finish second in the men’s long jump event with an effort of 7.82m. The event is a Challenger level meet on the World Athletics Continental Tour.
From the six-man field, Reynold Banigo of Great Britain won the gold medal with an attempt of 7.94m while Gabriele Chilà of Italy took bronze with a 7.53m effort.
In the Rome meet, Praveen Chithravel finished sixth among eight contestants in the men’s triple jump with an effort of 16.19m. Tokyo Olympians Andy Díaz of Cuba and Fang Yaoqing of China won the gold (17.64m) and silver medal (16.81m), respectively. Tokyo 2020 silver winner Zhu Yaming took the bronze with 16.80m.
Several Indian athletes are currently in Europe for training and competition exposure. Long jumper Murali Sreekankar, who will be in Greece and the Czech Republic, is expected to be in action next.