Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 21 (ANI): Vishal TK broke the national record with a sublime performance in the men's 400m event at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2025 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

Visha, a 21-year-old Indian athlete, blazed his way to the top of the podium and clinched the gold medal after clocking 45.12 seconds, toppling the previous national mark of 45.21 seconds, held by Muhammed Anas Yahiya at the 2019 Czech Athletics Championships, according to Olympics.com.

Paris 2024 Olympian Rajesh Ramesh (46.04s) and Vikrant Panchal (46.17s) settled silver and bronze, respectively. Vishal was a part of the Indian relay teams that won the gold medal in the mixed 4x400m and silver in the men's 4x400m at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi, Republic of Korea, earlier in May.

He missed out on an individual medal in Gumi by a whisker after finishing fourth in the men's 400m with a time of 45.57 seconds, which turned out to be his previous personal best.

The 64th edition of the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships serves as the final qualifying event for Indian athletes before the World Championships in Tokyo, scheduled to be held from September 13 to 21. The entry mark for Tokyo 25 in men's 400m was 44.85 seconds. The qualifying window closes on Sunday.

Top stars, including Asian Games champion Annu Rani (javelin throw), Animesh Kujur (men's 200m), Murali Sreeshankar (long jump), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Tejaswin Shankar (high jump) and Praveen Chithravel (triple jump), will be in action later this week.

National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2025 Day 2 results:Women's pole vault: 1. Baranica Elangovan (4.10m); 2. Mariya Jaison (4.05m); 3. Sathya Tamilarasan (4.00m)Men's 400m: Vishal T.K (45.12s); 2. Rajesh Ramesh (46.04s); 3. Vikrant Panchal (46.17s)Women's shot put: 1. Kachnar Chaudhary (15.75m); 2. Vidhi (15.30m); 3. Shiksha (15.18m)Women's 400m: 1. Devyaniba Zala (53.37s); 2. Anankha B.A (53.84s); 3. Prachi (53.96s)Men's discus throw: 1. Kirpal Singh (55.00m); 2. Nirbhay Singh (53.62m); 3. Ujjawal Choudhary (53.23m)Men's 1500m: 1. Yoonus Shah (3:41.22); 2. Ajay Saroj (3:41.55); 3. Arjun Waskale (3:42.86)Women's 1500m: 1. Pooja (4:10.68); 2. Lili Das (4:12.47); 3. Amandeep Kaur (4:21.37)Men's decathlon: 1. Stalin Joes (7052 pts); 2. Kushal Mohite (6976 pts); 3. Kamal Dhankh (6820 pts). (ANI)