Glasgow, July 27 (IANS) India’s hopes in the men’s 100m suffered a major setback on the opening day of athletics competition at the Commonwealth Games 2026 after national record-holder Gurindervir Singh failed to progress beyond the heats.
Across the 11 heats, the Indian sprinter was classified 28th among 73 athletes, with only the fastest 17 advancing to the next round. A time of 10.24 seconds would have been enough to secure qualification, leaving Gurindervir 0.15 seconds short of extending his campaign.
Competing in his maiden Commonwealth Games, the 25-year-old clocked 10.39 seconds to finish second in Heat 4 behind Jamaica’s Rohan Watson, who crossed the line in 10.13 seconds. While Gurindervir comfortably stayed ahead of the rest of the field, his time proved insufficient to earn a place in the semi-finals.
Running from lane five, Gurindervir made a competitive start and matched Watson through the opening phase of the race before the Jamaican, whose personal best stands at 9.91 seconds, accelerated away over the closing metres to seal victory. The race was contested with a legal tailwind of 1.9 m/s.
The result came as a surprise given the momentum Gurindervir had built heading into Glasgow. In May, the Punjab sprinter had rewritten Indian sprinting history at the Federation Cup in Ranchi, becoming the first Indian man to break the 10.10-second barrier with a sensational national record of 10.09 seconds.
His record-breaking run first saw him breach the national record to 10.17 seconds in the semifinal, surpassing Animesh Kujur’s previous mark of 10.18 seconds, before improving it further to 10.09 seconds in the final.
Those performances had established him as one of India’s strongest medal prospects at the Commonwealth Games and fuelled hopes of a historic run in Glasgow. Ironically, the 10.09-second effort that made him India’s fastest-ever man would have comfortably secured a semi-final berth had he been able to reproduce it on Monday.
Instead, the national record-holder was unable to find his best rhythm on the biggest stage of his career, bringing his Commonwealth Games debut to an abrupt conclusion.
–IANS
vi/bc
