Indian Sprinter Breaks 100m Record Twice in Two Days

Gurindervir Singh crossed the finish line at the Federation Cup in Ranchi on Saturday and immediately showed the cameras a message scribbled on his race bib: "Task is not finished yet. 10.10. Wait. I am still standing."

The 25-year-old from Punjab had just clocked 10.09 seconds in the 100-meter dash, becoming the first Indian ever to break the 10.10-second barrier. The roar from the crowd at Birsa Munda Stadium said it all.

But here's the wild part: this was actually his second national record in two days. On Friday, Gurindervir ran 10.17 seconds in the semifinals, breaking Animesh Kujur's previous record of 10.18 seconds. Later that same day, Kujur struck back with a 10.15-second time, reclaiming the record for just 24 hours.

His coach James Hillier, athletics director at Reliance Foundation, had seen it coming. After Kujur's Friday comeback, Hillier made Gurindervir promise one thing: stay off social media for 24 hours. "The goal was to keep Guri calm," Hillier explained. "I wanted to protect him for those 24 hours."

The strategy worked perfectly. Gurindervir executed his Saturday race exactly as they'd practiced in training.

Why This Inspires

That message on Gurindervir's bib wasn't just bravado. It was the culmination of nearly two decades of pushing back against doubt.

"Since I started 100m at the age of six or seven, people used to say that there is no future in 100m, take up 400m or something else," Gurindervir said after the race. "Indians don't have the genes for 100m, they said. I wanted to prove all of them wrong."

His father Kamaljeet Singh, a retired Punjab Police constable, remembers those early days. "Guri never shied away from training, whether it was in summer, winter or rain," he said from their village near Jalandhar.

The timing couldn't be better. Gurindervir's 10.09-second sprint would have won silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. With the Commonwealth Games coming to Scotland in July and Asian Games to Japan in September, India's fastest sprinters are expected to be in even better form.

This isn't Gurindervir's first national record. He set one last March with a 10.20-second time, but struggled to maintain that pace for the rest of the season. Coach Hillier believes this time will be different. "The last time he clocked the national record, his mind wasn't conditioned to handle it," Hillier said. "This time, I can guarantee you that he will manage it well."

The clock may still show 10.09 seconds, not the dream sub-10-second time, but for Indian sprinting, the future just arrived ahead of schedule.