Bhubaneswar: He was running in front of his own fans at Kalinga Stadium on Thursday evening.
But that did not hamper the focus of Animesh Kujur as the pride of Odisha raced to victory in the Men’s 200m heats at the 65th National Inter-State Athletics Championships 2026.
The sprinting sensation, who turned 23 earlier this month, clocked 20.87 seconds to book his berth in the Asian Games, to be held in Japan’s Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4 this year.
The qualification mark for the Asian Games was 20.88.
🥇𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮 🤝 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 2026 ☑️#Odisha‘s sprinting sensation Animesh Kujur wins the Men’s 200m Run with a time of 20.87s at the 65th National Inter-State Athletics Championships 2026 and books his place at the Asian Games 2026.
Heartiest… pic.twitter.com/rwadAfEO4u
— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) June 25, 2026
Though Animesh made the cut for Asian Games, his timing was below his personal best of 20.32 seconds, which is a National record. The 200m final should see him running faster as the competition will be more tough.
Animesh has already qualified for next month’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, in both 100m and 200m.