In a battle between two of India’s promising quarter-milers, Priya Mohan edged Rupal Chaudhary to win the women’s 400m at the 15th leg of the Indian Athletics Series 2026 in Meerut on Wednesday.
Competing at the Kailash Prakash Sports Stadium, Priya clocked 54.21s to finish ahead of Rupal, who crossed the line in 54.89s. Manisha completed the top three in 55.36s.
The 23-year-old Priya is a World U20 Championships silver and bronze medallist in the mixed 4x400m relay.
Both Priya and Rupal were part of the Indian quartet that won silver at the World U20 Championships 2022 in Cali with an Asian U20 record of 3:17.76.
Priya’s career was interrupted by a collapsed lung in 2023 before she gradually returned to racing last year.
Rupal, who won an individual 400m silver at the Asian Athletics Championships last year, was making her comeback after being sidelined with a knee injury.
Priya also finished in the top three in the women’s 200m, clocking 24.78s for third place. Harita Bhadra won in 23.36s while Nimeksha Siddi was second in 24.67s.
In the women’s hammer throw, national record holder Anushka Yadav produced a best effort of 64.92m to comfortably top the field. Neha Swami finished second with 52.22m while Poonam Jakhar was third with 48.47m.
The 18-year-old Anushka, who has been named in India’s Asian Games 2026 athletics squad, holds the national record of 67.02m set at the Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar in June.
Anushka’s Meerut effort also marked a strong response after she finished second to Tanya Chaudhary with a 61.03m throw at the previous Indian Athletics Series leg in Panchkula.
In the men’s 400m, Mijo Chacko Kurian edged Olympian Muhammed Ajmal by one-hundredth of a second. Mijo clocked 46.89s while Ajmal finished in 46.90s. Rashid was third in 47.28s.
Ajmal had also finished second at the previous leg of the athletics meet in Panchkula, where Vikrant Panchal beat him to the top spot.
Several athletes extended their winning runs on the Indian Athletics Series circuit. Sandeep Singh won the men’s 100m in 10.65s, Akhil K A topped the men’s 800m in 1:51.31 and Nirbhay Choudhary won the men’s hammer throw with 66.47m after all three had also prevailed in Panchkula.
Manoj Kumar won the men’s javelin throw with a best effort of 77.82m after also topping the event at the Warangal leg last month.
The Indian Athletics Final Series, an invitation-only competition, will be held in New Delhi on September 10. The AFI has said athletes will be invited based on their 2026 rankings.
Bahadur Singh Sagoo, president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), had said in July that all athletes named in India’s initial Asian Games squad would also compete in the final leg of the series.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/indian-athletics-series-2026-meerut-report-results
