Hima Das sprints to second international gold inside a week

India's Hima Das after claiming a silver medal in the women's 400 metres race at the 18th Asian Games, in Jakarta on Aug 26, 2018. Hima clocked a national record mark of 50.79 seconds to take the second place in the women's race. (Photo: IANS/SAI)


India ace sprinter Hima Das bagged her second international gold medal inside a week after she won the women’s 200m race at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland on Sunday.

Hima, who has been struggling with a back problem for the past few months, ran against the odds to clinch the yellow. The 19-year-old speedster clocked 23.97 seconds to clinch the gold while VK Vismaya grabbed silver with a timing of 24.06 seconds.

This was Hima’s second competitive 200m race of the year. She has a personal best of 23.10s which she clocked last year.

In her first competitive 200m race of the year, the Assam runner had clocked 23.65s on her way to gold in the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix, in Poland, on Tuesday. Vismaya had finished third with a personal best time of 23.75.

Notably, Hima is the reigning world junior champion and national record holder in 400 m.

Former India sports minister and current Lok Sabha member Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore took to Twitter to congratulate Hima.


Meanwhile, national record holder Muhammed Anas also won gold in the men’s 200m race with a timing of 21.18 seconds.

MP Jabir won the gold in men’s 400m hurdles in 50.21 seconds while Jithin Paul was third in 52.26 sec.

(With inputs from IANS)