Olympian Rajesh Ramesh and Vithya Ramraj won the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, at the Indian Open 400m 2026 athletics meet at the LNCPE Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
Asian Games gold medallist Rajesh Ramesh took top spot on the podium after clocking 45.26s. TS Manu finished second while Amoj Jacob was third with times of 45.96s and 45.99s, respectively.
Rajesh Ramesh’s time was his personal best and just the third sub-46 time in 400m by an Indian athlete.
Vishal TK, who holds the 400m national record with a time of 45.12s, and Muhammed Anas (45.21s) are the other two Indian runners with sub-46 times in the event.
All three podium finishers breached the AFI qualification mark of 45.97s for the Asian Games 2026, which is scheduled to be held in Japan’s Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4.
However, breaching the AFI mark does not guarantee athletes a place in India’s Asian Games contingent.
Meanwhile, Vithya Ramraj won the women’s 400m race with a time of 53.31s to take the title.
Vithya Ramraj’s personal best time of 52.25s came at the 2024 edition of the Indian Open in Trivandrum.
Vijayakumari GK finished second with a time of 53.55s while Olympian Machettira Raju Poovamma was third after clocking 53.61s.
Hima Das holds the women’s 400m national record with a time of 50.79s.
Like in the men’s 400m race, all three podium finishers breached the Asian Games 2026 qualification standard of 53.72s.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/indian-open-400m-athletics-report
