Gurindervir Singh’s 2026 Commonwealth Games campaign came to a sudden, painful end in Glasgow, leaving fans stunned after a severely disappointing performance in the men’s 100m heats. Hopes were high for India’s fastest man, who entered the competition with realistic ambitions of pushing deep into the final rounds. Instead, his tournament ended in the opening stage after he managed a sluggish time of 10.39 seconds, failing to advance to the semifinals.
Following the shock exit, his childhood coach, Happy Singh, publicly apologised to the nation and sprinting fans for the poor outcome, taking responsibility for the athlete’s inability to deliver on the big stage.
“I just want ask forgiveness as Gurindervir’s first coach as we were not able to give what was expected from us.”
Speaking to news outlet NNIS, he said: “The country hopes that when an athlete runs for the country, they will do well. I apologise to the nation as Gurindervir’s first coach. He could not deliver close to what the people had hoped from him.”
“Either a person wins or learns, but that process of learning becomes too drawn out if the competition comes once in four years. If a person goes to these events only to learn, they take on a lot of pressure on them. But what is done is done, we cannot do anything about it. All we can do now is to support him.”
Hidden injury dented his chances, months after breaking the national record
The sense of failure was magnified by the massive momentum Gurindervir carried into Glasgow. Earlier this year, at the Federation Cup in Ranchi in May 2026, he made Indian athletics history by setting a national record of 10.09 seconds. Becoming the first Indian sprinter to break the 10.10-second mark, he looked set to challenge for a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games and perhaps even threaten the sub-10-second barrier.
That explosive pace was missing on the track in Glasgow, though an underlying physical issue soon explained the dip in form. James Hillier, Gurindervir’s current coach at Reliance, revealed after the race that the sprinter had been carrying a hamstring injury that the camp kept hidden. “Everyone will look at the timings and go, why couldn’t he do his best? He’s had a hamstring injury for the last month, we’ve been keeping it quiet. Where he is at now, he can do the first 60m very well,” Hillier explained. The injury severely limited Gurindervir in the second half of the race, which saw him fade over the final 40 metres and eventually come second in Heat 4 behind Jamaica’s Rohan Watson, who won in 10.13 seconds.
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Assuming a top-two finish was enough to secure passage to the next round, Gurindervir had offered a thumbs-up to the crowd as he walked off the track. But there was to be no joy for him, because the competition’s qualification rules offered no automatic spots for heat placings.
With 76 athletes split across 11 heats and seven top sprinters given direct byes into the semifinals, organisers allocated the remaining 17 spots based strictly on the fastest timings across all heats. Gurindervir’s time of 10.39 seconds left him 28th overall among heat runners, well short of Barbados’ Kuron Griffith, who grabbed the 17th and final qualifying spot with a time of 10.24 seconds.
