Indian sprinting is at new heights and it is Animesh Kujur who changed history again. The 23-year-old sprinter secured the best performance of his career, recording a record 10.14 seconds to finish second in the men's 100m final at the PUMA Fast Arms Fast Legs 2026 meet in Wetzlar, Germany.
This amazing feat made Kujur the fastest Indian ever over 100 metres on foreign soil. It is also the second-fastest ever by an Indian, behind Gurindervir Singh's national record of 10.09 seconds. It also solidifies Kujur as one of the best in Indian athletics and it is not going to be repeated in his career.
Kujur had already teased us with something special earlier in the day by winning his qualifying heat in 10.19 seconds. He improved by another five hundredths of a second and crossed the finish line in 10.14 seconds to finish second behind South Africa’s Retshidisitswe Mlenga who won in 10.03 seconds.
The achievement is another landmark for the Chhattisgarh-born sprinter who trains at the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre under coach Martin Owens. Kujur started in 200m but his performance in the shorter sprints has made him one of the fastest-ever Indian athletes.
The significance of the timing becomes even clearer when we consider the history of Indian sprinting. For decades breaking the 10.30-second barrier was considered a huge accomplishment for Indian athletes. That perception has changed dramatically in the past two years.
Kujur also made his mark in 2025 when he got a national record of 20.32 seconds in 200m in India, which was the fastest quarter-lap sprinter at the time. He also broke the record in 100m in the same year and became one of the first Indians to consistently challenge the national record.
The rivalry between Kujur and his fellow sprinter Gurindervir Singh has taken Indian sprinting to a new level recently. The national record was changed many times within two days at the Federation Cup earlier this season. Gurindervir finally broke the record to 10.09 seconds and was the first Indian to break that 10.10-second barrier. Kujur's new 10.14-second performance is also the second-fastest in Indian history.
Even better, Kujur now has three of the five fastest 100m timings ever recorded by an Indian—10.14s, 10.15s, and 10.18s—demonstrating his remarkable consistency at the highest level.
He is well known for winning the 100m but Kujur has always said that the 200m is his favourite event. In the 200m he got qualification for the Asian Games at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in 20.74 seconds. But he said that it was qualification and not fast time and that it was the big games and he was focused on it after the end of the season.
His coach Martin Owens has also credited race planning with Kujur’s steady improvement. After the grueling Asian Relay Championships, the focus turned from chasing records and toward workload management and building up for big international competitions. That strategy seems to be working.
Kujur’s performance has received widespread appreciation from the Indian athletics community and social media. Many of them viewed that performance as an achievement in Indian sprints and pointed out how the country’s men’s sprint program has been rapidly developing. It was also called historic by the Athletics Federation of India, stating that Kujur is the fastest Indian ever to cross 100 metres outside the country.
There are the Asian Games and other major international events coming and India’s sprint revolution is inching its way around. For years the country looked for athletes who could regularly contend with the world's fastest runners. Thanks to Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur, India is in fact developing a sprinting culture capable of challenging on the global stage.
For Animesh Kujur, the 10.14-second run in Germany is more than just another personal best. It’s an acknowledgment that Indian sprinting has entered a new era—one in which history is no longer chased but is rewritten frequently.
