Indian Marathoners Break National Record, Qualify for Olympics 2016

O.P. Jaisha broke the national record and stood 18th at the World Athletics Championships, while Sudha Singh too gave an incredible performance and grabbed the 19th spot with a timing that is her personal best.

Jaisha Orchatteri Puthiya Veetil, mostly known as O.P. Jaisha, an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala, gave an energetic performance at the Beijing National Stadium during the World Athletics Championships. She finished 18th at the marathon, with a record time of two hours, 34 minutes and 43 seconds (2:34:43) on Sunday.

With this impressive performance, she set a new national record. The previous record was also held by Jaisha herself.

Photo: Milaap

Jaisha made her marathon debut at the Mumbai Marathon in 2015, and clinched the first place by breaking a 19-year-old record which was held by Vally Satyabhama. Another participant from India, Sudha Singh, was right behind Jaisha and stood at 19th spot with a time of 2:35:35 which is her personal best and is also better than Jaisha’s previous national record of 2:37:29.

Both the ladies, with their impressive performances, have made it to the qualifying round for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Photo: ramdynamo.blogspot.in

The qualifying standard for marathon in Rio Olympics is 2:42:00. Jaisha and Singh were training under Dr. Nikolai Snesarev who helped them plan the race. The gold medal at the marathon was grabbed by Mare Dibaba who defeated Kenya’s Helah Kiprop by just a second.

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