Usain Bolt. Carl Lewis. Asafa Powell. Maurice Greene. Jim Hines. Over the years, the world’s fastest men, officially, have come from either Jamaica or the USA, with a smattering of outsiders occasionally trying to break into the club.
For the past five years, a Welshman has been trying to convince people that an Indian could, someday, join that league. While India has had success in the middle-distance and the 400m has been the shortest route to recognition, James Hillier is on a mission to prove they can go fast over a shorter distance, too.
Integrated approach
“We have always had good sprinters here but it’s been in pockets — so a sprinter would be really good for a couple of years, then another will come and the first one gets injured. Hopefully, we have shown people how we can be consistent. I believe we have brought a level of professionalism and an integrated approach. So the athlete sits in the middle but it’s focused on the coach and the supporting services on the outside,” Hillier, the Athletics Director at Reliance Foundation, tells The Hindu.
Shifting with his family to the Odisha High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar wasn’t easy but Hillier has adapted well and admits his kids, five and three years old, are now as Indian as they come. His other set of ‘kids’ are some of the fastest Indians on the track. Tejas Shirse, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Amlan Borgohain, Jyothi Yarraji, Animesh Kujur — the names making waves today were all either written off or clueless about the future before coming into the Reliance-Hillier fold.
Consider this: Jyothi was mentally and physically broken when she started training with Hillier in 2021. Shirse was an uncertain youngster with little focus and a lot of stubbornness. Animesh, who is monitored by Hillier but primarily trains under athletics head coach Martin Owens, only knew he wanted to run fast but had no idea how to go about it. Amlan was simply a talented lad. No one knew Hoblidhar six months ago. Today, they hold the national records in 100m, 100 and 110m hurdles, and 200m, all set in the last 18-24 months.
Strong bond: Jyothi Yarraji and Amlan Borgohain are two of the athletes who have flourished under James Hillier’s stewardship. | Photo: Special Arrangement
Then there is the next batch of exciting talent — Moumita Mondal and Pragyan Sahu pushing Jyothi in the 100m hurdles. Graceson Jeeva competing with Shirse. Bapi Hansda in the 400m hurdles and 17-year old Mohd. Reyan Basha in the 100m, among several others. With the Athletics Federation of India planning to decentralise training after Paris, it is only expected to get better.
“It is a team project,” says Hillier. “If we look at women’s hurdles, when I first got here people said ‘Oh, it’s not possible to break the 13-second mark’. And I asked why? Who came up with that rule? Once Jyothi broke it, she created belief and now there are other girls coming up as well.
“In the men’s 100m, Amlan’s there, Animesh, Gurindervir Singh is back to fitness which is fantastic for the sport. There’s a few other young guys knocking around as well. That can only be good. I want to see a final of eight athletes and not know who’s going to win. We have to work on strength in depth. I think that internal competitiveness will help drive things forward.”
It’s a mutual admiration club. “Today I’m running 13.06 here [at the 2024 Inter-State Championships] because of him [Hillier],” says Jyothi. “Because it’s not only the training, it’s the mindset. A month ago I was unable to lift my leg because of a Grade-2 muscle tear [suffered during competition in Finland]. He never tells me to beat someone or run a specific time or try to be something I am not. He only teaches me how to manage myself.”
Coach who doesn’t coach
It’s a constant refrain — the coach who doesn’t coach. “My coach always likes his athletes to think. We sit together and then he asks me how I will run faster. I then tell him what I want to do and we make plans accordingly,” the ever-smiling Amlan says.
“James coach’s main role is being a facilitator,” says Shirse. “He lets you think, asks you what you want, then moulds you into a pattern where you can thrive yourself. I have seen many athletes even at the top level in India who don’t know why they are doing what they are doing, they don’t know their own bodies. But James guides us to know ourselves better.”
Coached to autonomy: Tejas Shirse says Hillier ‘lets you think, asks you what you want, then moulds you so you can thrive yourself’.| Photo credit: Ritu Raj Konwar
The athletes’ comfort around Hillier is visible. “I don’t over-coach. It’s about putting an athlete in an environment and then let them flourish, figure stuff out themselves. Athletes need to know so they can prepare, they can plan, they can start to take ownership of things because the athlete must be involved in the process.
“Create challenges in training and let them solve it. If you don’t have that structure, if you don’t periodise your training or progress, there’s going to be problems. My athletes know exactly what they’re doing every day of the week. I think the biggest thing that I brought is that structure. A by-product of that environment is improved performances,” Hillier explains.
Hillier’s sprint mission means he has an eye on every noteworthy performance. Case in point is Gurindervir Singh, who won the Inter-State meet and has been consistently impressive this season. Although the Punjab sprinter trains in Jalandhar, Hillier is all praise. “He’s phenomenal. Few know this but I knew about Gurindervir even before I came to India. He was probably the only one — besides Neeraj [Chopra].
“I’m a big fan of his and he deserves to win. He’s had a tough 3-4 years, he hasn’t got a huge amount of support and I was really chuffed he won. I know he beat my guys but it’s good for Indian sprinting,” Hillier gushes. He has also invited Gurindervir to train at the Reliance HPC post the Olympics as he plans to take the next step towards his sprint-coaching goals — a 100m national relay team with the brightest Indian runners.
A training pack
“Having a group together with everyone pushing each other can be a big help. That’s what I want to do, create a strong group. I want training to be more competitive. But you have to get the right people in and I believe Guri is a good fit,” Hillier says.
Shirse agrees. “It is very important to have a group pushing each other. There are days when you don’t want to get up and train but when there is someone to prod you, you are motivated to go out. We trained in Tenerife earlier this year, where there were several elite athletes including Finn Elmo Lakka. I trained with him for three sessions, absorbed everything and then beat him, in Finland.”
Hillier acknowledges Indian runners are still a long way from the very best but insists it’s not a weakness. “See, if we try to take on the Jamaicans right now, we’re just going to get killed and that’ll be demoralising. So let’s dominate Asia first, and that’s getting harder. Let’s get that one ticked off, then let’s create a culture of success. We don’t want to create invisible barriers of ‘we can’t do this’ and ‘they’re better than us.’ They’re not, they’re just 20 years ahead and it’s an advantage because we can learn from them. If the conditions are right, I wouldn’t be surprised if [an Indian] runs 10.1 this year,” he signs off.