By the time Animesh Kujur lined up for the 200m at the Indian Athletics Series Final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi last week, the instruction from his coach was fairly simple: don’t chase the clock.It was getting late. The priority was to stay injury-free, execute the bend and finish the race.Kujur won in 20.59 seconds after winning the 100m in 10.21 seconds. Gurindervir Singh, India’s 100m national record holder, was second in 10.32.The meeting was the final domestic stop before the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. For Kujur, the two victories were less about producing another headline time than getting through the evening and into the final phase of his preparation.“The coach said that the time is getting late, so just stay injury-free. Don’t push too much. Just try to come first,” Kujur told TimesofIndia.com after the race. “Just try to execute the curve. That’s it. And I just did it like that. I came straight and just maintained my pace. And just finished the race.”He arrives in Aichi-Nagoya with a 10.14 personal best in the 100m and the national 200m record of 20.32, set at the 2025 Asian Championships. He will compete in the 100m, 200m and relay.The 10.14 came in Wetzlar, Germany, in July and remains the second-fastest 100m by an Indian, behind Gurindervir’s 10.09 national record. Kujur’s run was also the fastest 100m by an Indian outside the country.
Animesh Kujur (Image credit: Special arrangement)
Gurindervir’s 10.09 came at the Federation Cup in Ranchi in May, when the Indian record changed hands repeatedly over a short period. Kujur had run 10.15 before Gurindervir reclaimed the record with 10.09.The two have continued to race each other through the season. At the Series Final in Delhi, Kujur had the better of the two again.Kujur said that competition has changed the way he feels about the 100m.“I will say 100, I am having more fun now because I am getting competition from Guri again and again,” he said.He does not feel the same level of competition in the 200m.“In 200, there is not as much competition as there should be in India,” he said. “But when you get competition, that is when you enjoy running fast.”The Asian Games will give him plenty of it.
A tougher sprint field awaits in Aichi-Nagoya
Japan’s Shuhei Tada and Yuki Koike are listed for the men’s 100m. Tada has a 10.01 personal best, while Koike has run 10.06. Both are part of Japan’s Asian Games sprint team.The wider Asian field has also produced several sub-10.10-level performances this season, with Japan’s Rikuto Higuchi at 10.01 and other Japanese sprinters around the 10.03-10.04 mark. Gurindervir’s 10.09 and Kujur’s 10.14 put the Indian pair firmly in that group.The 200m is an even tougher proposition on paper.Japan’s Soshi Mizukubo has run 20.07 this season and won the Japanese national title. Thailand’s Puripol Boonson has gone 20.03, a national record, while Kujur’s Indian record remains 20.32.Kujur’s own 2026 200m season has been less spectacular than his record-breaking 2025, but that has not altered how he sees the event.Earlier in the year, he qualified for the Asian Games with 20.74 at the National Inter-State Championships, a time comfortably inside the qualification mark but well outside his 20.32 national record.
The clock is no longer driving Kujur’s races
He has since been thinking less about producing a particular time in every race.In 2024, Kujur said, he spent an entire season running around 20.5 and 20.6. Then came 20.40 at the Senior Federation Cup in 2025, followed by 20.32 at the Asian Championships.
Animesh Kujur won bronze medal in 200m at 2025 Asian Championships (Image credit: Special arrangement)
“So when it has to happen, it will happen,” he said. “No matter how much you push, the conditions should be like that, competition should be like that, and the atmosphere should be like that. And it’s all about that day.”There is a similar change in his 100m target.The conversation around Kujur had once centred on whether he could break 10 seconds. Kujur has moved his own target further.“No, I don’t think of 10 flat, now I think of running 9,” he said.Even after running 10.21, he felt there was more there.“Even today, when I stood in 10.16, I thought, this is not a 10.16 race,” he said. “So it’s okay, when it has to come, it comes.”
The lessons from his first international campaign
What matters now is getting the body to the right point. Kujur’s first major international experience came at the 2025 Asian Championships, where he won bronze in the 200m. He says he was under pressure because he was representing India officially for the first time.He does not expect that feeling to return in Japan.“And the mistakes I made in the Asian Championships, I won’t make again,” he said. “Because I was first international. Officially, I was representing India. And I was under pressure for that.”Since then, he has raced at the World Championships, on the Continental Tour and at other international competitions. His coach has also encouraged him to use those races to experiment.“With the upcoming LA Olympics, [the coaches have told me] don’t miss any chance to make a mistake. And our ultimate aim is the LA Olympics,” Kujur said.
Learning when to push – and when to back off
The Asian Games therefore arrive after a season in which Kujur has learned more about managing the work around the races.That will be particularly relevant in Aichi-Nagoya. Kujur says the heat and humidity will not be new to him.“Yes, it is the same condition where I train. Same humidity, same heat,” he said. “And last time I competed in the World Championship. So I have an idea how to keep my body there and how to maintain things.”“I know what form I am in, how my body is behaving, what time to take my body, when to peak, when to reduce the load, all the things that we have learned from the last year, how to maintain everything,” he said.There is also a sizeable support system behind Kujur’s preparation.
Animesh Kujur with Martin Owens (Image credit: Special arrangement)
“I have a lot of people on my support, like Reliance, Odisha Government, then TOPS, Athletic Federation of India, and others, and Puma, they never let me down,” he said. “Everyone wants me to improve, in every field, whether it’s performance wise, or mental peace, or anything else. As a normal human being, everyone wants me to improve.”The expectation he carries into his first Asian Games is also different from the one he had at the Asian Championships.
‘I know I am going to do well’
He has already won an Asian medal. He now wants to win one at a bigger multi-sport event.“The success of the Asian Games will be a life-changing moment for me, because I have never won a medal in such a big game,” he said.Asked which of the 100m, 200m and relay he considered his best medal opportunity, he did not pick one.“Sure shot medal,” Kujur said. “I have won all three.”
