New Delhi: It’s tough not to notice Animesh Kujur’s flamboyance. With his arms spread out in Usain Bolt’s iconic Lightning Bolt celebration and his piston-like feet that show no signs of deceleration, Kujur has exploded on the Indian athletics scene with chutzpah befitting a world-beating track star. If not for the deadpan sincerity with which he spells out his dreams, the aspiring footballer-turned-speedster could be misconstrued as the athletics equivalent of a trash-talking boxer.
“I want to be the first Indian to break the 10-second barrier in 100m and 20-second barrier in 200m races,” he declared matter-of-factly. If it’s an act, it is an act done well.
“He comes across as this super loud character but he is quite humble. He is thankful for the gifts he has and likes to stay grounded,” Kujur’s coach at Reliance High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, Martin Owens, said.
The gift Owens refers to is speed. A combination of training, talent, and genetics, there are few fascinating sights in sports than the raw ability of a human body to challenge time. Kujur, Owens said, has all the makings of the track superstar India has long been waiting for.
“He has fantastic genes, great fast-twitch muscle fibres. Technically, he is still a work in progress but the important thing is he is willing to put his head down and work hard,” the coach said.
At the recently concluded National Games in Uttarakhand, Kujur opened his season with a golden treble, winning the 100m, 200, and 4X100m relay races with ease. All three results ended up being the Games record — 10.28s in 100m, 20.58s in 200m, and 39.47s in relay — and while much can be said about the standard of the meet itself, starting the season on a high does serve as a confidence booster.
“I am still in my off-season training, so to record those timings shows I am going in the right direction,” Kujur said. He missed the 100m national record by 0.04s and the 200m mark by 0.06s, and though he insists he is not chasing those landmarks, he does want to be the fastest man in the country.
“Records are a by-product of performance. I want to be the fastest runner in the country, and if I become one, records will be shattered. It will be nice to have the twin records, but I don’t think of them,” he said.
Barring Assam’s Amlan Borgohain, there are not many challengers to Kujur in the country although Gurindervir Singh and Gurav Pranav have shown promise. Despite Kujur’s results, Owens likes to stay grounded and look at the bigger picture. “He is an eight-year project. He wants to go under 10s and 20s, and he is capable, but that won’t happen overnight. Only a few special athletes can do that, and it will take a lot of effort from Animesh to get there. I want to see him at the 2032 Olympics, for sure,” he said.
For that, both Kujur and Owens understand the need to run against faster competitors, and so the coach is on the hunt for a training base in Europe, preferably in Germany, Switzerland, or Poland. Last year, Kujur travelled to Germany, Belgium, Finland, and Spain for a bunch of competitions. In that packed fortnight, the 21-year-old ran the fastest 100m of his life (10.27s) and still finished outside top-three.
“That race was a bit of an eye-opener. Animesh ran well, but two guys finished under 10s,” he said. Kujur agrees. “There is not much competition in India. Even at the National Games, if there was someone to push me hard in my pet event (200m), I could have done a better time,” he said.
Besides the European exposure, what has worked for Kujur is an increased focus on building strength and correcting his biomechanics. Owens has ‘Indianised’ his periodisation, meaning there’s no real off season for Kujur per se.
“There are warmer conditions in India, and that means we can run more during winter months which is the off season. We take down the intensity slightly and bring up the volume a little,” he said. Work is also being put to improve Kujur’s mobility and flexibility. His ankle joints, the coach says, are particularly stiff which have a bearing on his slow stars in the 100m.
“But the good thing is that he doesn’t slow down quickly. Most good athletes begin to slow down by the 60m mark, some exceptional ones can delay the deceleration to 70-80m. I’d say Animesh is in that range,” Owens said.
Next target for the duo is meeting the qualifying standards for this year’s Asian Championships — 10.25s for 100m and 20.53s for the 200m. Kujur, who is planning to compete only in one competition — Federation Cup — before the Asian event is confident of making the cut. “There’s no pressure. I will not only qualify but make the country proud,” he said.
