Ajay Kumar Saroj and Gulveer Singh clock PB at USATF Grand Prix

Indian track and field athletes had a very good outing at the USATF Grand Prix in Los Angeles on Friday. Asian Games medalists Ajay Kumar Saroj and Gulveer Singh achieved personal best timings in the 1500m and 5000m, respectively.

Ajay Kumar clocked a timing of 3:37.83 in the men's 1500m B final, bettering his previous best of 3:38.24. He has now become the second-fastest runner in the 1500m for India, behind national record holder Jinson Johnson (3:35.24).

He surpassed Arjuna Award winner Bahadur Prasad's timing of 3:38.00 to achieve this feat. Rahul Harveer Singh (3:42.81) and Shashi Singh (3:56.98) also clocked their season-best timings in the 1500m C final.

In women's 1500m, National Record holder KM Deeksha clocked a timing (4:08.51) far outside her personal best of 4:04.78, which she clocked earlier this month.

Gulveer Singh who recently broke the national record of 10,000m, continued his good form and bettered his personal best timing of 5000m by six seconds. He clocked 13:23.78 in the men's 5000m B final and jumped to second place in the list of fastest all-time runners from India in this category.

He is now four seconds behind the national record holder Avinash Sable (3:19:30) whereas Karthik Kumar also bettered his personal best timing with a huge margin of 11 seconds in the same B final to clock a 13:37.64.

The young women long-distance runners also had a great day as 22-year-old Ankita finished in 3rd position with 15:28.82 while Seema improved his personal best timing by a massive 14 seconds to 15:30:70 to finish in sixth position in women's 5000m B final.

All of these Indian runners are fighting for the Paris Olympics quota via rankings, hence these timings will help them to present a solid case in the quest for the Paris Olympics quota.