Teen Siddhant wants to make fast lane his own

These are interesting times for Indian sprinters. Over the past few months, a bunch of local talents, Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh in particular, have provided a rare spectacle of speed and explosive power with the 100m and 200m national records being bettered in quick succession.

- Shantanu Srivastava

While the focus has rightly been on Kujur and the exciting 4x100m men’s relay squad — Kujur, Singh, Manikanta Hoblidhar, and Amlan Borgohain reset the national mark (38.69s) this July — a minor but significant development went under the radar. Siddhant Kumar, an 18-year-old Indian student in the USA, clocked 10.36s in 100m and 46.85s in 400m in a space of three months to show early signs of what's to come. Last year, Kumar ran an impressive personal best of 21.11s in 200m to underscore his potential across the half lap.

To offer some perspective, India’s current U-18 100m record stands at 10.55s and Kumar's 10.36s was 0.01s shy of the current U-20 NR. His timings are recognised and ratified by US Track and Field but await ratification from World Athletics and Athletics Federation of India.