Closing in on the 55.42s set in LA 1984, Vithya equals it in 400m hurdles heats
HANGZHOU: The figure of 55.42s has remained a magical number for India's top women's 400m hurdlers for nearly four decades, ever since 'Payyoli Express' PT Usha clocked it en route to her historic fourthplace finish in the Los Angeles Games final in 1984.
On Monday at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Tamil Nadu athlete Vithya Ramraj joined the legendary athlete in the national record books clocking the same time as she made Tuesday's final topping Heat 1.
For the past few months, Vithya has been making the headlines hovering around Usha's record. The latest was her 55.43s mark set at the Indian Grand Prix 5 on Sept 11. "She could have run faster had Bahrain's Yusuf Jamal given her fight till the finish. But Jamal gave up the challenge after the eighth hurdle," Vithya's coach Nehpal Singh Rathore told TOI.
"This is Vithya's first Games so we wanted to give it our best from the first round itself. I was expecting her to go close to 55.0s," said Rathore. The Bah rain girl finished second in 56.22s followed by Adelina Zems of Kazakhstan third in 57.16s.
In the second heat, Bahrain's Mujidat Adekova won in 55.17s followed by Lauren Hoffman of Philippines 57.61 and Jiadie Mo of China, third in 58.09s. India's Sinchal Kavermama finished last, clocking 58.62s.
The top 3 finishers from the two heats the next two fastest advanced to the final. The stage is now set for a thrilling battle between Vithya and her two rivals from Bahrain. Of the two, Mujiat will start favourite after finishing fourth in the Budapest Worlds clocking 53.09s.
"Our target is 54.5s," said Rathore, admitting that a gold medal could be tough. "Currently Vithya is in the silver medal position. But she will improve further in the final and it will be a good contest," the coach added. Besides the gold, Vithya would also be gunning to own Usha's record and a qualification mark for the Paris Olympics set at 54.85s. "My target is the 54.5 second range that will get me the Paris berth and Usha ma'am's record," Vithya had told TOI before the heats.
