Ancy Sojan, Rohit Yadav Head India’s 26-Record Athletics Season

Indian athletes have rewritten roughly 26 national records this athletics season, with a cluster of the most consequential marks falling at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar. The headlines are a 6.88-metre long jump by Kerala’s Ancy Sojan that erased Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old national mark, and an 87.05-metre javelin throw by Uttar Pradesh’s Rohit Yadav that pushed him to second in the global season list.

Anju, who held the women’s long jump record at 6.83 metres from the 2004 Athens Olympics until Saturday, said the depth was unmistakable going into the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The championships at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium doubled as India’s final domestic selection meet, with several of the new marks clearing the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) qualification standards on the last day of competition.

A 22-Year-Old Mark Falls in Bhubaneswar

Ancy Sojan produced the leap of her career on the fifth attempt of the women’s long jump final, sailing to 6.88 metres to dethrone Anju’s 6.83-metre national standard set at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The previous mark had stood for over two decades, and Anju’s reaction, calling the effort a “world-class jump” in comments carried by ANI, suggested a torch had been passed rather than a loss incurred. Several athletes across the four-day meet set new personal bests in the long jump field alongside Ancy.

The 25-year-old from Nattika in Kerala’s Thrissur district had been climbing toward this mark for years. She won silver at the 2022 Asian Games with 6.63 metres, and her previous personal best was 6.75 metres earlier this season. Her 6.88 also cleared the AFI’s Asian Games qualifying standard of 6.48 metres by a margin that placed her at the top of the Asian season standings in the event.

Ancy framed the achievement as the result of patience and hard training rather than a single day of inspiration, a point she returned to repeatedly in her post-jump comments. The leap moved her into the all-time Asian top 10 in the women’s long jump, per the championship report carried on the federation’s results sheet.

“I came here to do my PB, not the national record, and (I) just wanted to be a good world-class jumper. But, finally it (national record) happened.”

Ancy Sojan told reporters in Bhubaneswar after the women’s long jump final at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, as reported by Rediff.

Rohit Yadav Finally Unblocks at 87.05m

Rohit Yadav, 25, lit up the men’s javelin final on the concluding day of the championships with a 87.05-metre throw on his final attempt. The mark bettered the previous championship record of 84.35m set by Manu DP in 2022 and his own previous best of 83.04m from 2023. It also qualified Rohit for the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, meeting the AFI’s qualification standard of 77.87m by nearly 10 metres.

Rohit’s series in Bhubaneswar built slowly: 77.71m, 77.63m, no mark, 77.51m, 79.40m, and 87.05m. After the throw, he told Sportstar magazine that the moment was something he had been chasing since he was 18, when he first trained overseas and posed next to an 85-metre marker on a throwing field.

“You know how you have a ketchup bottle that’s got choked and you keep hitting it until finally the block comes loose and the ketchup starts flowing? That what this feels like.”

Rohit Yadav told Sportstar magazine after the men’s javelin final at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, on what the publication described as a “hot and humid evening” in Bhubaneswar.

The throw elevated Rohit to second in the global season list behind Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, whose best this season stands at 92.62m. Two-time Olympic and World Championships medallist Neeraj Chopra sits in fourth with 85.69m, a reminder that the depth in the Indian javelin squad has narrowed the gap that used to separate him from his domestic rivals. The full Neeraj Chopra story, including his appointment of Jan Zelezny as coach, is tracked separately.

Rohit’s path to the 87.05m was years in the making. The Jaunpur thrower had spent three seasons stuck in the low-80m range after a 2023 elbow injury and surgery forced him out of the Asian Championships, the Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Sachin Yadav took Asian Championships silver in 2025 and finished fourth at the 2025 World Championships with 86.27m, a mark that until this month sat ahead of Rohit’s previous progression. Yashvir Singh (83.72m) and Sachin (82.32m) finished second and third in Bhubaneswar and also cleared the Asian Games qualification mark.

Five Records in Three Days at Kalinga Stadium

India’s record-breaking was not confined to the javelin and women’s long jump. The championships at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium produced five national records within the window of the closing finals alone. High jumper Sarvesh Kushare cleared 2.31 metres to overtake Tejaswin Shankar’s 2018 national record of 2.29m and became the first Indian man over the 2.30m bar in the event, sending him into a tie for third in the global season rankings and to the top of the Asian list.

Kushare had already made history before the championships, becoming the first Indian to qualify for the men’s high jump final at the World Championships in Tokyo last year. Long jumper Sreeshankar M was awarded best male athlete of the meet after a gold-winning 8.38-metre jump on his fourth attempt, with every one of his legal jumps on the day clearing 8 metres. Ancy Sojan was named best female athlete. Uttar Pradesh won the men’s team trophy, Haryana the women’s, and Tamil Nadu took the overall.

Records to remember from Bhubaneswar:

• Ancy Sojan, women’s long jump: 6.88m (previous 6.83m by Anju Bobby George, Athens 2004)
• Rohit Yadav, men’s javelin: 87.05m (previous 84.35m by Manu DP, 2022)
• Sarvesh Kushare, men’s high jump: 2.31m (previous 2.29m by Tejaswin Shankar, 2018)
• Ancy Sojan: season leader among Asian women in long jump after the championships
• Sarvesh Kushare: first Indian man to clear 2.30m, joint third in the global season rankings

Where India Stands in the World Rankings

The depth of Indian performances is now visible across multiple global season lists. Three Indians sit inside the top seven of the men’s javelin after Rohit’s surge, and Kushare’s high jump move pushed him into the global top three. Ancy Sojan became the season leader among Asian women in the long jump with the 6.88m leap.

But the global view also highlights how steep the climb still is at the very top. Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka is the only athlete on the planet over 90 metres in the men’s javelin this season, leaving India’s three throwers trailing by 5 metres or more even in their best moments.

The reset in the women’s long jump put Ancy ahead of her previous 6.75m Asian-leading mark and inside the all-time Asian top 10, according to the Rediff report on the championships. Rohit’s and Ancy’s marks also both landed comfortably inside AFI’s own qualification standards for the Asian Games, which sit well below the world-leading performances in each event. The full list of AFI qualification standards, including the 77.87m javelin and 2.19m high jump marks cleared by the Indian throwers and Kushare, is published on the official 65th National Inter-State results sheet.

Ancy’s Next Target: The Asian Games Record

Ancy Sojan’s performance in Bhubaneswar gave her a concrete next target on the calendar. She said after the championships that her goal is to break the Asian Games record in Nagoya, a mark that would directly qualify her for the 2027 World Championships, for which 6.86m is the qualification standard. The pathway from her current personal best of 6.88m to a new Games record is short on numbers but long on depth, with multiple Asian jumpers expected to challenge.

Sarvesh Kushare has been equally direct about what comes next. He attempted 2.35 metres after setting his national record and missed twice, but told reporters he is confident the bar will fall “maybe during the Commonwealth or the Asian Games.” Three months separate India’s athletes from the opening of the athletics programme in Nagoya in late September.

Rohit Yadav’s trajectory is the most directly tied to the roster. His 87.05m throw met the AFI’s qualification standard for Nagoya and surpassed it, putting him on the path for the September athletics window at Mizuho Stadium. The Indian javelin squad will go to the Asian Games with at least three throwers who have cleared 80m this season, including Yashvir Singh and Sachin Yadav. The depth marks a shift from the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, where only Kishore Kumar Jena had thrown over 86m, with his 87.54m silver-medal mark still the benchmark for an Indian at a continental multi-sport event.

The Indian contingent for Nagoya is still being assembled. The AFI said on Sunday that the roster announcement was set for Monday, immediately after the close of the championships. With the wider Asian Games calendar, including athletics at Mizuho Stadium from September 23 to 29, the build-up looks unusually crowded on the Indian side. The 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya calendar listing confirms Mizuho Stadium as the athletics venue.

Whether the run of records translates into a heavier medal haul will be settled in throws, jumps and races over a six-day window in Japan. Anju’s earlier hope for “more medals” at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games will be tested against fields deeper than the ones India has seen this domestic season, and at the Nagoya athletics block she will know within hours of the first javelin flight whether her 22-year mark was the start of a longer climb.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many national records has India broken this athletics season?

Around 26 national records have been broken across events this season, according to former Olympian and Athletics Federation of India Vice President Anju Bobby George. Five new national records were set within the window of the finals on the penultimate and closing days of the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, including Ancy Sojan’s 6.88m long jump, Rohit Yadav’s 87.05m javelin and Sarvesh Kushare’s 2.31m high jump.

Who broke Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old long jump record?

Ancy Sojan, a 25-year-old long jumper from Nattika in Kerala’s Thrissur district, broke Anju Bobby George’s long-standing national record of 6.83m set at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Ancy jumped 6.88m on her fifth attempt at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. She had won silver at the 2022 Asian Games with 6.63m, and her previous personal best was 6.75m.

Where does Rohit Yadav rank globally in javelin?

Rohit Yadav is ranked second in the global season list in the men’s javelin with his 87.05m throw from the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships. He trails Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, whose season best stands at 92.62m. Neeraj Chopra of India is ranked fourth with 85.69m.

Which Indian athletes have qualified for the 2026 Asian Games?

As of the close of the Bhubaneswar championships, Rohit Yadav (87.05m), Yashvir Singh (83.72m) and Sachin Yadav (82.32m) in the men’s javelin, Sarvesh Kushare (2.31m) in the men’s high jump, and Ancy Sojan (6.88m) in the women’s long jump have all cleared the AFI’s Asian Games qualification standards. The AFI said the full Asian Games-bound squad would be announced on Monday, June 30.

When and where are the 2026 Asian Games?

The 20th Asian Games run from September 19 to October 4, 2026, in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with athletics at Mizuho Stadium from September 23 to 29, according to the World Athletics competition calendar.