Yash Mulik, 17, lowers U18 hurdles record to 13.29 at junior nationals

Maharashtra's Yash Mulik, 17, won the boys' under-18 110m hurdles in 13.29 seconds at the 41st National Junior Athletics Championships in Chennai on Sunday, October 25, 2026, setting a new U18 national record. The time lowered his own record of 13.40 seconds, set earlier this season at the National Youth Athletics Championships in Ludhiana. The championships, organised under the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, run from October 23 to 27, and records have fallen on every day so far.

The 110m hurdles is one of the most technical sprint events in athletics. A hurdler has to clear ten barriers while keeping a three-step rhythm between them, so a time improvement of more than a tenth of a second in a few months, as Mulik has managed, points to gains in both speed and technique. In the under-18 category the hurdles are lower than in senior competition, which is why youth and senior times are not directly compared, but national age-group records are the clearest sign of who is ahead of the pack.

The Chennai meet is the main domestic stage for India's under-16, under-18 and under-20 athletes. Results here count when coaches and the federation pick teams for junior international events, and they are watched by the national camps that turn juniors into senior athletes. A string of national records in three days, in the sprints, the 400m, the pole vault, the shot put and now the hurdles, suggests a deeper talent pool than India's age-group athletics has often shown.

For young athletes reading this, the path is visible in Mulik's season: a national youth record in Ludhiana, selection for an international school games, then a faster record at the junior nationals. Each step began with a state-level qualifying meet. What to do next: if you compete in athletics, ask your school or district coach about your state association's junior and youth meets, which lead to the national championships, and follow the AFI's official results to see the standards in your event.

Short-term: Two more days of competition remain, to October 27, 2026, and more age-group records are possible. Mulik's run makes him the clear leader in his age group heading into the ISF Gymnasiade in December.

Long-term: Junior record-holders are the athletes the federation and national camps track for the Asian and world under-20 championships and, later, for senior teams. Whether these juniors keep improving will depend on coaching, competition abroad and avoiding injury in the years when many promising Indian athletes drop out.

Who is affected: Young athletes in the under-16, under-18 and under-20 groups, their coaches and state associations, and the Athletics Federation of India, which uses these results in selection. Schools and families of aspiring athletes can see what national-level standards now look like.

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