Nagoya: Vithya Ramraj produced a landmark performance at the Asian Games 2026 Monday, breaking the 42-year-old national record held by legendary Indian athlete PT Usha to win bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Ramraj clocked a personal best of 54.75 seconds to finish third in a thrilling final, improving the previous national benchmark of 55.42s by 0.67 seconds. The record had been set by Usha at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she finished fourth in the Olympic final.
Ramraj had previously equalled Usha’s mark at the 2023 Asian Games, where she also won bronze. Three years later, she finally moved beyond the mark that had stood as one of the longest-standing records in Indian athletics.
The Indian was firmly in medal contention through the race and held her position in the closing stages, but could not match the late surge of Mariam Kareem of the United Arab Emirates. Kareem stormed to gold in a Games-record 54.31s, while Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems secured silver with a personal best of 54.58s.
Ramraj’s 54.75s not only earned her a second successive Asian Games bronze but also represented a significant improvement on her previous personal best of 55.42s.
The Indian’s compatriot Anu Raghavan also produced a strong performance in the final. Running in lane eight, Raghavan lowered her personal best to 55.88s to finish fifth. Her previous best entering the final was 56.54s.
For Ramraj, the bronze continues a notable Asian Games run. She had stood on the podium in the same event at Hangzhou in 2023 and returned to the final in Aichi-Nagoya with another medal-winning performance.
Usha’s 55.42s record had survived since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when she narrowly missed the podium after finishing fourth. Ramraj, who had shared that mark since 2023, has now rewritten the national record books outright.
