Three meet records fell on Day 1 of the 65th National Open Athletics Championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, on 8 October 2026. Tamil Nadu’s I. Asha Ilango led the way with a meet-record 13.89 m in the triple jump. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Kumar of Madhya Pradesh and Reegan G of SSCB both cleared heights above the old pole vault record.
In total, seven finals took place on the opening day, and seven different teams won gold. However, Railway Sports topped the medal count with two golds and two silvers. Giridharani Ravikumar won the women’s 100m, while Shivaji Madappa took the men’s 10,000m.
For more track and field coverage, also read our report on the Indian Athletics Final Series 2026 results. In addition, you can follow live results on the official AFI championship page.
Field events at the National Open Athletics Championships
Pole vault. Notably, the best duel of the day came in the pole vault. First, the top two went past the meet record of 5.15 m, which Parshant Kanhiya set in 2022. Kuldeep Kumar (Madhya Pradesh) then won with 5.30 m before three failures at 5.35 m. Meanwhile, Reegan G (SSCB) took silver with 5.25 m, while SSCB teammate Rambeer won bronze with 5.10 m. As a result, Kuldeep also earned the best male athlete award of the day.
Hammer throw. National record holder Nirbhay Chaudhary (Delhi) won with 69.42 m in round four. He then threw 69.24 m in round six. However, both throws fell just short of the 70.05 m meet record. Praveen Kumar (Railway Sports) finished second with 67.73 m, while Ashish Jakhar (SSCB) was third with 66.86 m.
Triple jump and discus throw finals
Triple jump. I. Asha Ilango (Tamil Nadu) broke Mayookha Johny’s 2015 meet record of 13.78 m. Notably, her winning jump of 13.89 m came in round three. In fact, all six of her jumps beat the silver medal mark of 13.36 m by Bhairabi Roy (Railway Sports). Meanwhile, Shaili Singh (Uttar Pradesh) took bronze at 13.31 m on countback over Aleena T Saji. Consequently, Asha also earned the best female athlete award of the day.
Discus throw. Seema (Haryana) won by a huge margin of 5.15 m. Indeed, her opening throw of 57.63 m decided the event, and none of her valid throws went below 55.77 m. Behind her, Nikita Kumari (Rajasthan) took silver with 52.48 m. Still, she finished just three centimetres ahead of Haryana’s Sanya Yadav (52.45 m).
Track events at the National Open Athletics Championships
100m women. Giridharani Ravikumar (Railway Sports) was the fastest qualifier in round one at 11.58. Later, she ran 11.48 with a +0.3 m/s tailwind to win the final. Veteran Srabani Nanda (Odisha) took silver in 11.55, while Priyanka Sikarwar (All India Police) finished third in 11.59.
5000m women. Shampa Gain (West Bengal) won in 16:54.56. Behind her, however, the fight for silver came down to a tenth of a second. Sonam Parmar (Madhya Pradesh) clocked 16:56.52, while Mori Vandana Bharat (Gujarat) clocked 16:56.62.
10000m men. Finally, Shivaji Madappa (Railway Sports) closed the day by winning in 30:30.54. Gaurav Mathur (Delhi) finished second in 30:36.33, while Vinod Singh (Madhya Pradesh) took third in 30:37.13. Overall, the first five runners finished within nine seconds of each other.
Tamil Nadu at the National Open Athletics Championships
Tamil Nadu won one gold on Day 1 through Asha Ilango’s meet record. However, its four other athletes in these finals finished outside the medals. Babisha P also competed in the triple jump and finished 12th with 12.28 m. In the pole vault, M. Gowtham placed 5th with 4.90 m, whereas Kavinraja S did not clear a height. Similarly, Shankar Nagarajan finished 9th in the hammer throw with 60.13 m.
National Open Athletics Championships medal table after Day 1
| Team | Gold-Silver-Bronze |
|---|---|
| Railway Sports | 2-2-0 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 1-1-1 |
| Delhi | 1-1-0 |
| Haryana | 1-0-1 |
| Tamil Nadu | 1-0-0 |
| West Bengal | 1-0-0 |
| SSCB | 0-1-2 |
| Odisha | 0-1-0 |
| Rajasthan | 0-1-0 |
| All India Police | 0-0-1 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 0-0-1 |
| Gujarat | 0-0-1 |
What comes next on Day 2
Day 2 on 9 October features the women’s 400m, men’s 100m and men’s discus throw finals. In addition, the decathlon continues, with Jinoy Jayan (ONGC) in the lead.
Results: official result sheets of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Feature photo: Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
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