Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], March 21 : Olympian Rajesh Ramesh delivered a standout performance to clinch the men's 400m title at the Indian Open 400m 2026 athletics meet held at the LNCPE Stadium on Saturday, while Vithya Ramraj secured top honours in the women's event.
According to Olympics.com, Rajesh Ramesh surged to victory with a personal best time of 45.26 seconds, marking only the third instance of an Indian athlete dipping below the 46-second barrier in the 400m.
TS Manu finished second in 45.96 seconds, narrowly ahead of Amoj Jacob, who clocked 45.99 seconds to take third place.
The result places Ramesh among an elite group of Indian quarter-milers, alongside national record holder Vishal TK (45.12s) and Muhammed Anas (45.21s), as the only athletes from the country to have recorded sub-46-second timings.
All three podium finishers also went under the Athletics Federation of India's qualifying mark of 45.97 seconds for the 2026 Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.
However, meeting the qualification standard does not automatically ensure selection to the Indian contingent.
In the women's 400m final, Vithya Ramraj emerged victorious with a time of 53.31 seconds. Vijayakumari GK claimed second place in 53.55 seconds, while Olympian Machettira Raju Poovamma finished third with 53.61 seconds.
Ramraj, whose personal best stands at 52.25 seconds, achieved in 2024, led a competitive field where all three medal winners surpassed the Asian Games qualification mark of 53.72 seconds.
The national record in the women's 400m continues to be held by Hima Das, who set a benchmark of 50.79 seconds.
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