Vithya turns record-breaking bronze into relay gold

New Delhi, Sept 29: Vithya Ramraj turned a record-breaking individual performance into Asian Games gold on Tuesday, helping India win the women's 4x400 metres relay a day after rewriting PT Usha's long-standing national record.

Ramraj joined Kiran Pahal, Machettira Poovamma and Prachi Choudhary to clock 3:29.69 and finish first in the relay final at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. Bahrain took silver in 3:30.21, while China finished third in 3:31.02.

The victory gave India its first athletics gold of the Aichi-Nagoya Games and added another major achievement to what has already been a memorable Asian Games for Ramraj.

Just 24 hours earlier, the 28-year-old from Coimbatore had produced the biggest individual performance of her career in the 400m hurdles. She ran a personal best of 54.75 seconds to win bronze and break Usha's 42-year-old national record of 55.42 seconds, set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Ramraj had already matched Usha's mark at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. This time, she went beyond it, cutting 0.67 seconds from the previous national record and finally taking sole ownership of one of Indian athletics' most enduring marks.

Her record-breaking run also carried an emotional significance. Usha, one of India's most celebrated athletes and now president of the Indian Olympic Association, congratulated Ramraj after the performance and welcomed the passing of the record to the next generation.

The relay gold was another chapter in Ramraj's growing Asian Games record. She had earlier been part of India's mixed 4x400m relay team that won silver at the Games, before adding the individual bronze in the hurdles and Tuesday's gold.

For India, the relay victory ended a wait for an athletics gold at these Games and highlighted the depth of its women's quarter-mile programme. For Ramraj, it transformed a landmark individual achievement into a team triumph within a day.

Her two latest medals also underline the versatility that has become a defining feature of her Asian Games campaign. After breaking a record that had survived since the 1980s, Ramraj returned to the track to help India reach the top of the podium in one of the Games' most closely watched relay events.

From chasing Usha's record to helping India secure gold, Ramraj has made the closing stages of the Asian Games a personal breakthrough as well as a significant moment for Indian athletics.