Rakesh Gond set a youth national record in the pole vault competition to grab the spotlight on the opening day of the 15th National Youth Athletics Championships here today.
Gond cleared a height of 4.90m to erase the national mark of 4.75m set by Kanhaiya Singh in 2017.
The Uttar Pradesh pole vaulter was far ahead of the rest of the field in the competition, finishing half a meter clear of Shekhar Kumar Pandey who claimed the silver with a best effort of 4.40m. Ganesh Priyan of Tamil Nadu took the bronze with an effort of 4.20m.
Meet records were set in both the men and women's 2000m steeplechase competitions. Md. Noor Hassan of Uttar Pradesh clocked 5:54.37 to smash the old meet record of 6.00.28 set by Raj Kumar at the 2016 edition. Also finishing below the old meet record was Atul Gavit of Gujarat who clocked 5:58.13 to win the silver.
The women's 2000m steeplechase saw a similarly fast race. The competition was won by Uttar Pradesh's Kajal Sharma who clocked 7:11.99 to eclipse the old meet record of 7:21.23 set by Priyanka in 2016. The silver medal went to Vaishnavi Sawant of Maharashtra who also ran faster than the old meet record with a time of 7:17.61 seconds.
Another meet record was set in the javelin throw competition. Uttar Pradesh's Rohit Yadav threw the javelin to 77.41m to erase his own mark and personal best of 76.11 set in Hyderabad last year.
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In other events, Sunil Singh of Madhya Pradesh claimed the gold medal in the men's 3000m race with a time of 8.33.57 seconds to beat Ravi Dahiya of Haryana who crossed the finish line in 8:34.43 seconds.
In the women's 3000m race, Ankita Dhyani of Uttarakhand took the gold in 10:14.37 seconds, beating Pragati Mulane of Maharashtra (10:19.80 seconds) and Muskan Chotiara of Gujarat (10.25.15 seconds) who took silver and bronze respectively.
Aniket Kala of Uttarakhand won the men's discus throw competition with a throw of 56.26m. He beat Ikram Ali Khan on Madhya Pradesh who recorded a best throw of 54.63m and Punjab's Dhanvir Singh who had a best effort of 53.11m on the day.