Punjab’s Harmilan Kaur Bains has shattered the 1500m national record. She broke the 19-year-old record in the ongoing 60th National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal on Thursday. On June 21, the Patiala girl was inconsolable when she narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s 1500m event. But with the recent win she is back on track now.
“I can run freely now,” the 23-year-old said just after clocking 4:05.39 to erase Sunita Rani’s Busan Asian Games mark from 2002. Harmilan also broke OP Jaisha’s meet record of 4:11.83 (Delhi 2006). But she narrowly missed the 1500m qualification mark (4:04.20) for the World Championships 2022. But For now, the youngster is content with the record.
Harmilan had shifted to Dharamshala for her training due to Covid-19 protocols at the NIS, Patiala. Undefeated in eight national-level races since January 2020, she has shown rapid progress. Harmilan has been improving from 4:14.68 in the Khelo India University Games in Bhubaneshwar in 2020 to 4:08.70 and 4:08.27 in the Federation Cup (March 16) and Indian Grand Prix 4 (June 21) respectively in Patiala.
Harmilan is the daughter of two former athletes. Father Amandeep Singh specialized in the 1,500 metres. Mother Madhuri Singh is an Asian Games silver medalist in the 800 from Busan.
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