India win Bronze medal in Mixed 4x400m Relay at World Athletics U20 Championship

India's mixed 4X400m relay team won a bronze medal at the ongoing 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi on Wednesday, 18th August. With a time of 3:20.60 seconds, the quartet of Barath Sridhar, Priya Mohan, Summy, and Kapil finished third behind Nigeria and Poland.

Nigeria won gold in a championship record time of 3:19.70s, followed by Poland in a time of 3:19.80s. This is India's fifth medal in the World Athletics U20 Championships, but only its second in a track event, following Hima Das' gold medal in the 400m in 2018. With this bronze medal, India has now won four consecutive World Athletics U20 Championship medals.

The first leg was covered by Barath Sridhar, who was followed by Priya Mohan and Summy, while the anchor, Kapil, retained the lead behind Nigeria and Poland with a time of 3:20.60s. Priya, who competed in the women's individual 400m race, ran the third race of the competition and performed well. It was the second race for Summy and Kapil, while Barath took the place of Abdul Razak, who had participated in the heats.

India advanced to the final after winning the heat with a timing of 3:23.36s. Whereas Nigeria finished the heat with a time of 3:21.66s and was ranked at the top. The split times of the Indians in the heat were Razak (48.18s), Priya (53.70s), Summy (54.63s), and Kapil (46.85s). They defeated two tough teams in the heat, Poland and Jamaica. The top three from each of the two heats and the top two finishers advanced to the final. Other finalists included the Czech Republic, Jamaica, Poland, Sri Lanka, Italy, and South Africa.

India’s performance at World Athletics U20 Championships

Priya Mohan concluded a successful day by qualifying for the women's 400m final. She finished third in the solo heats only moments after her mixed 4x400m relay heats in the morning session, clocking 53.79 seconds. The Indian javelin throwers Ajai Raj Singh Rana and Jay Kumar also advanced to the World Athletics U20 Championships final. Amandeep Singh Dhaliwal also qualified for the final in the men's shot put on the first day of the competition. Meanwhile, hammer thrower Vipin Kumar dropped from the competition after a bad performance in qualifications.

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