Indian Grand Prix-5: Vithya Ramraj narrowly misses out on breaking PT Usha’s 39-year-old 400m hurdles record
The 24-year-old Vithya’s time was just one-hundredth of a second less than Usha’s 55.42 which she had clocked while finishing fourth in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Published : Sep 11, 2023 17:35 IST - 1 MIN READ
A day after her 400m stunner, Vithya Ramraj almost came close to toppling P.T. Usha’s 39-year-old 400m hurdles national record, missing it by one-hundredth of a second, at the Indian Grand Prix-5 in Chandigarh on Monday.
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Vithya, who was in a world of her own in the 400m hurdles, clocked 55.43s as she gave a shiver to Usha’s precious record which came as she narrowly missed the bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Second-placed Sinchal Kaviramma was more than three seconds behind Vithya.
“I thought I’d get the record today, may be I’ll get it at the Asian Games,” said the 24-year-old Vithya who hails from Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, Priti Lamba clocked a personal best of 9:45.13s while winning the women’s 3000m steeple chase, despite the event attracting just two athletes. That got her a ticket to the Asian Games which begin in Hangzhou, China, later this month.
The winners in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay narrowly missed making the cut for the Asiad, clocking 39.24s (AFI qual. Standard 39s) and 44.66s (44.50s) respectively.