National Youth Athletics C’ships: Nitin Gupta breaks 20-minute barrier in 5000m racewalk

Uttar Pradesh’s Nitin Gupta created history at the 20th National Youth Athletics Championships 2025 in Patna, Bihar, by becoming the first Indian to break the 20-minute barrier in the men’s under-18 5000m racewalk. He also clocked the third-fastest time in the world in this category.

Nitin clocked an impressive 19:24.48s, bettering his own national record of 20:01.64s, which he had set in December last year. His achievement came on the opening day of the championships on Monday.

In the same event, Uttarakhand’s Tushar Panwar and Ritul Parihar clinched the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Nitin trains under Basant Rana at ASI Pune, where he practices alongside top racewalkers Ram Babu and Servin Sebastian. His performance has also earned him qualification for the Asian Youth Athletics Championships, scheduled to take place in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, from April 15 to 18.

Chiranth, Aarti emerge fastest 

In the boys' 100m sprint, Karnataka's Chiranth P was crowned the fastest sprinter, winning gold with a time of 10.89s. He was followed by Tamil Nadu’s F Fredrick Russell (11.04s) and Bihar’s Divyansh Kumar Raj (11.08s), who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.

In the girls' 100m race, Haryana’s Aarti clinched the gold medal with a timing of 12.23s. Her state-mate Prisha Mishra finished second, while Maharashtra’s Shourya Ambure took home the bronze.

The boys’ 400m race saw a brilliant performance from Jharkhand’s Saket Minj, who clocked his personal best of 47.63s to secure the gold medal. He missed the national record by just 0.51 seconds. Karnataka’s Sayed Sabeer and Uttar Pradesh’s Kadir Khan completed the podium finishes.

In the girls’ 400m event, Tamil Nadu’s Edwina Jason bagged the gold medal with a timing of 55.86s.

Other results:

Girls 3000m racewalk: Yogita (Haryana) 13:55.50, Simran Gusain (Uttrakhand) 14:00.29, Ranjana Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) 14:13.73

Boys High Jump: Afroz Ahmad (Jharkhand) 2.04m, Devak Bhushan (Kerala) 2.04m, Himanshu Kumar Sing (Jharkhand) 2.02m

Boys Discuss Throw: Nischay (Haryana) 62.14m, Vishal Kumar (Rajasthan) 56.71m, Akhil Kumar (Haryana) 54.63m

Girls shot put: Joy Baidwan (Punjab) 14.04m, Jasmine Kaur (Punjab) 13.98m, Drona Choudhary (Rajasthan) 13.88m.