100m hurdler Jyothi breaks 13-sec barrier at Nationals

Bengaluru, October 17

Jyothi Yarraji today created history by becoming the first Indian woman to break the 13-second barrier in the 100m hurdles event while smashing her own record at the National Open Athletics Championships here.

The 23-year-old, representing Railways, cruised to victory in 12.82s. With the wind gauge reading 0.9m/s, she could not be denied her national record timing a second time.

She had won the same event in the National Games in 12.79s but was supported by wind that exceeded the permissible limit. Her earlier national record was 13.04s set in May.

Yarraji was unstoppable today. She broke the meet record with 13.18s in the heats. In the final, she hit the front by the time the other seven athletes got to the second hurdle and was a comfortable winner.

Yarraji, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and trains in Bhubaneswar, capped a fine season. She thus became the second-fastest Asian in the event this year and sits just outside the continent’s all-time top-10 list.

Punjab’s Manpreet Kaur won the women’s shot put gold medal with an effort of 16.84 metres. Shilpa Rani (55.18m) of Haryana won the women’s javelin throw gold.