Panchkula (Haryana): Unheralded Haryana athlete Kiran Pahal surprised herself by qualifying for the Paris Olympics in the women's 400m event, clocking a personal best time of 50.92 seconds on the opening day of the National Inter-State Championships here on Thursday.
The automatic Olympics qualification mark in women's 400m is 50.95 seconds, which the 23-year-old Kiran managed to breach to secure her berth at next month's Games.
She easily won her semifinal heat, finishing ahead of Devy Aniba Zala of Gujarat, who was a distant second with a timing of 53.44, while Kerala's Sneha K came third by clocking 53.51s.
Kiran had clocked 52.33 seconds in the preliminary round heats earlier in the day. Her earlier personal best was 51.84 second which she had recorded in 2022.
Kiran is the first Indian female quartermiler to qualify for the Olympics after a gap of eight years since Nirmal Sheoran (Haryana) ran in the 2016 Rio Games.
"It's a surprise for me. I never thought I would qualify for the Olympics and prepare for it. There is no bigger achievement than this," Kiran said after her feat.
"I was under a bit of pressure in the preliminary heats as I was running after around one year. I knew that if I do well in heats, I will do better in the semifinals because you get better runners in the semifinals."
With Thursday's performance, Kiran emerged as the second fastest Indian female 400m runner of all time. She has yet to win an international medal. She won gold in the National Inter-State Championships in 2022.
Asked if she would go for the national record time of 50.79 seconds in the final on Friday, she said, "I don't want to say this beforehand but I feel I can run faster in the final than in the semifinals."
The women's 400m national record stands in the name of Hima Das since 2018.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has a policy of picking only national campers for the relays but Kiran said she would be ready to be part of 4x400m team if the AFI asks her.
Kiran, who trains in Rohtak outside the national camp, was running in her first race of the year and she said she was not still fully fit after suffering multiple hamstrings. Her last 400m race was at the National Open Championships in October, 2023, in Bengaluru where she clocked a disappointing 56.03s to crash out at the preliminary heats.
Hailing from Ganaur village in Sonepat district of Haryana, Kiran struggled a lot in her career as her family lived in abject poverty.
Her father Om Prakash, who died in 2022 after a prolonged illness (lung problem), was a munshi at a Tehsil court in Sonepat district. Her mother Maya Devi is a home maker.
Her late father had backed her sporting dreams to the hilt despite social opprobrium in a male dominated society, and she broke down while talking to the reporters.
"My family is struggling currently after my father passed away two years ago. Today's Olympic qualification is a life changing moment but I don't have any sponsors to help me in my preparations for the Olympics. I really need a sponsor to help me out," she said, fighting tears,
In the medal round on Friday, Kiran will be up against the country's top quartermilers like Jyothika Sri Dandi of Andhra Pradesh and Subha Venkatesan of Tamil Nadu (both directly seeded to the semifinals without running preliminary heats) and Deepanshi of Haryana.
The men's 400m final -- also on Friday -- will be a mouth-watering contest as all the top runners advanced to the medal round. Muhammed Anas of Kerala was the fastest in the semifinals with a time of 45.76 seconds.
In other events, Ankita won the women's 5000m final race in 16 minute 10.31 seconds while in the corresponding men's event, national record holder Gulveer Singh took the gold by bettering his own meet record time of 13:34.67.
His performance was well, however, well below his national record of 13:18.92 which she registered in the US earlier this month.
Manju Bala won the women's hammer throw gold by sending the iron ball to a distance of 63.66m.
Commonwealth Games champion triple jumper Eldhose Paul pulled out of the race due to a heel bone fracture.
The 27-year-old Eldhose, who was set to make a final attempt, announced his withdrawal on social media.
"I wanted to take a moment to share a personal update with all of you. Unfortunately, I sustained an injury during the last competition I took part in, which occurred towards the end of the qualifying period.
"After returning to India and undergoing further evaluation, it's been concluded that I have a fracture in the calcaneus (heel bone) that requires immediate attention," Eldhose wrote.
Eldhose sustained the injury during his final competition at the JBL Jump Fest on Alzbetina Street in Koice, where he won a bronze medal with a jump of 16.45 metres.
The athlete described the development as heartbreaking.
"This news means that my Olympic journey ends here. Words cannot express how heartbreaking this is for me. Representing my country this year would have been the pinnacle of my career.
"However, as athletes, we understand that injuries are part of the sport and I choose to look forward with optimism. As I take this time to heal and recover, I am reminded that this is not the end of my story. Thank you for being part of my journey. Your support means everything."
