Tejas Shirse establishes new national record in men's hurdles, misses Olympic qualification mark by seconds

HELSINKI: Indian athlete Tejas Shirse established a new national record in the men's 110 m hurdles at the Motonet GP Jyvaskyla athletics meet in Finland on Wednesday, but missed the Olympics qualification mark by a few seconds. In the finals of the men's 110 m hurdles event, Shirse finished with the timings of 13.41 seconds to secure the top spot. However, he missed the Olympic qualification mark of 13.27 seconds by just 0.14 seconds.

The 21-year-old Shirse outdid the national record of 13.48 seconds set by Siddhanth Thingalaya in 2017. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Thursday acknowledged Shirse's performance on X, tweeting, "Athletics: New National Record at Motonet GP Jyvaskyla, India's Tejas Shirse gave a 1st place in Men's 110m Hurdles finals with a phenomenal NR timing of 13.41s! *ONLY* 0.14s away from that #Olympics qualification mark of 13.27s. So close Keep pushing Tejas! Good job @afiindia @TejasShirse_"

Meanwhile, Asian Games silver medalist Jyothi Yarraji also won the women's 100 m event at the Finland meet, matching her national record of 12.78 seconds, which also happens to be her personal best. She finished ahead of Jamaica's Crystal Morrison (12.87s) and Lotta Harala (12.95s) of Finland. However, she missed the Olympics qualification mark by 0.01 seconds. She had also missed the mark during the World University Games in Chengdu last year by the same margin. The period for qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympics, taking place from July 26 to August 11, will end on June 30.