Ekta Dey.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
After taking the 5000m gold comfortably in the morning, Madhya Pradesh’s Ekta Pradeep Dey broke the women’s 3000m steeple chase record by a massive 19 seconds on the concluding evening of the 22nd National Federation Cup junior (under-20) athletics championships in Lucknow on Sunday.
That makes the 18-year-old, who clocked 10:10.08s, the second-fastest in the world in the under-20 age group this year, behind Kenyan Sharon Chepkemoi (10:07.67s).
Incidentally, Ekta had clocked a mediocre 11:04.68 while finishing sixth in the Junior Nationals in Coimbatore in November 2023.
Meanwhile, UP’s Sharuk Khan broke his own meet record in the men’s 3000m steeple chase.
The results (winners only):
Men: 200m: Dondapati Mrutyam (Odi) 21.59s. 800M: Vinod Kumar Banoth (Tel) 1:51.30s. 5000M: Vinod Singh (MP) 14:22.32s. 400m hurdles: Murad Sirman (Guj) 52.31s. 3000M steeple chase: Sharuk Khan (UP) 8:57.90s MR, OR 9:05.42. High jump: R. Castro Raj (TN) 1.95m. Triple jump: Bhupendra Singh Bisht (Ukd) 15.08m. Javelin throw: Dipanshu Sharma (UP) 68.89m.
Women: 200m: Dodla Sai Sangeetha (Tel) 24.58s. 800m: Laxita Vinod Sandilea (Guj) 2:09.01s. 5000M: Ekta Pradeep Dey (MP) 17:08.81s. 400M hurdles: Shreeya Rajesh (Kar) 59.30s MR, OR 1:00.36s. 3000M steeple chase: Ekta Pradeep Dey (MP) 10:10.08s NR, OR 10:29.50s. Triple jump: Rishika Aswathi (UP) 12.40m. Javelin throw: Deepika (Har) 48.71m. Shot put: Tamanna (Har) 14.56m. Heptathlon: Pavana Nagaraj (Kar) 5076 pts.