Manikanta H breaks 100m national record: WATCH

Manikanta H of Services broke the 100m National Record, clocking 10.23 seconds on Wednesday, the opening day of the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru.

Despite slowing down in the final few meters, Manikanta ran quite ahead of the field in heat three of the semi-finals of the 100m competition.

The 21-year-old surpassed the previous mark of 10.26m held by Amiya Kumar Mallick since 2016 and beat the timing of 10.25s clocked by Amlan Borgohain, which has yet to be ratified.

He also broke the meet record set by Amlan Borgohain with the timing of 10.34s in 2021.

Watch: Manikanta zooms ahead of competitors to clock 10.23s

With this timing, Manikanta secured his berth in the final by winning the heat three of the semi-finals. Earlier in the preliminary heats, Manikanta clocked 10.50s to make his place into the semi-finals.

Manikanta topped both the preliminary and semi-final rounds of the men's 100. The final of the event will take place on October 12 at 4 PM Indian Standard Time.

In the first year of his senior career, Manikanta clocked 10.31s earlier at the Inter-Services meet.

Manikanta's NR, however, is much behind the South Asian record held by Yupun Abeykoon of Sri Lanka. Abeykoor became the first South Asian sprinter to run 100m in less than 10 seconds when he competed at the Resisprint International (a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger meeting) in Switzerland in July 2022. Abeykoon clocked 9.96s in the event.

China's Su Bingtian is the fastest man in Asia. He clocked a superb timing of 9.83s at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to finish sixth.