India’s fastest man, Animesh Kujur, missed the podium at the Monaco Diamond League by just 0.13 seconds. Participating in the men’s U23 200m final, Animesh clocked a time of 20.55 seconds, falling just short of his personal best of 20.32.
Animesh’s timings were affected by a strong headwind at Monaco, which blew at -1.9 m/s. Animesh finished fourth in the race, behind Australian prodigy Gout Gout, who clocked a time of 20.10, once again just short of his best time of 20.02.
Botswana’s Busang Collen Kebinatshipi won silver, while South Africa’s Jack Naeem clinched the bronze medal. Kujur finished just behind Naeem, finishing 0.132 seconds behind the athlete’s 20.42 seconds.
Recently, Animesh Kujur smashed the 100m national record with an incredible time of 10.18 seconds at the Dromia International Sprint and Relays Meeting in Greece. Sprinting in the second heat of the competition, the 22-year-old Kujur became the first-ever Indian to register a sub-10.20 second time in the 100m, bettering Gurindervir Singh’s earlier national record of 10.20 seconds at the meet in Vari, a suburb of the Greek capital Athens.
Kujur currently holds both the 100m and 200m national records. He had clocked 20.32 seconds in the men’s 200m final of the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea in May to break his own previous national mark of 20.40 seconds, set at the Federation Cup earlier in the year.
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