SportsPosted at: Sep 28 2026 7:39PM


Vithya Ramraj erases Usha’s 42-year-old record, wins Asian Games bronze

Aichi-Nagoya, Sept 28 (UNI) Vithya Ramraj finally brought down one of Indian athletics’ most enduring records on Monday, smashing P.T. Usha’s 42-year-old national mark in the women’s 400m hurdles on her way to an Asian Games bronze here.
Vithya clocked a stunning 54.75 seconds, improving Usha’s 55.42-second record by 0.67 seconds and ending a wait that had lasted more than four decades.
The performance gave Vithya her fifth Asian Games medal and second at Aichi-Nagoya, adding to the silver she won with India in the mixed 4x400m relay.
UAE’s Mariam Kareem won gold in an Asian Games record 54.31 seconds, while Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems claimed silver in a personal best 54.58. India’s Anu Raghavan finished fifth in a personal best 55.88.
The record had remained one of the most difficult barriers in Indian athletics since Usha set it in 1984. Vithya had come agonisingly close before, equalling the mark at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, but Monday’s run finally took her beyond the legendary sprinter’s benchmark.
The significance of the moment was heightened by Usha’s presence as Indian Olympic Association president, as her long-standing record passed into a new generation of Indian athletics.
For Vithya, however, the bronze was only part of the mission.
“I want three medals, tomorrow one is waiting for me,” she said after her record-breaking run.
Vithya will return to the track on Tuesday as India line up in the women’s 4x400m relay, where she will chase a third medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
Her progression has made the 400m hurdles one of the focal points of India’s athletics campaign, and her 54.75 seconds on Monday transformed a long-standing record into a new national benchmark.
UNI BDN
Tags: #Vithya Ramraj erases Usha’s 42-year-old record# wins Asian Games bronze
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BD Narayankar
Aichi-Nagoya, Sept 28 (UNI) Forty-two years is a long time for any record to survive. In Indian athletics, P.T. Usha’s 55.42 seconds in the 400m hurdles had begun to look less like a mark on a stopwatch and more like a monument. On Monday, Vithya Ramraj did what generations before her had failed to do — she knocked it down.

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