Jyothi Yarraji - India's Latest Track and Field Sensation

Jyothi is presently one of the rising stars of India in Athletics. India’s fastest 100m hurdler, Jyothi has made a name for herself in national arena. Although she is yet to clinch a medal at a prestigious international platform, that day doesn’t seem very far. Born in Andhra Pradesh’s Vishakhapatnam, Jyothi belongs to a family with a modest background in Andhra Pradesh. Her father works as a security guard, while her mother is a part-time cleaner in a hospital located in Vishakhapatnam.

During her childhood, she didn’t inform her parents about her budding interest until she took part in a South Zone event around the year 2015. Before that, she participated in the 100m hurdles being encouraged by her PE teacher and seeing her seniors taking part in the events. She then began participating more frequently at the junior level. However, it was time for her to showcase her skills in the senior division as well after a productive junior campaign. Jyoti began training with James Hillier, a British coach, at the Odisha Athletics High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar in 2019.

Hillier, the former England Athletics National Coach and Athlete Development Manager who is currently the Head Coach of the Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics High-Performance Center (HPC), first met her during the Khelo India University Games in Odisha in 2020. At that moment, he realized that she held the unique quality that athletic coaches seek in their athletes. During his prime days, James had a successful career and excelled in the 400-meter hurdles.

Setback Due to Covid-19 and Injury

Jyothi arrived at the Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre (HPC) after the lockdown with very limited confidence and severe scar tissue buildup in her calf due to past injuries. She also suffered from a Grade 2 meniscus tear. When she arrived there after the lockdown, she had slimmed down considerably. She weighed between 48 and 49 kgs at the time. She was even afraid to hurdle at one point, but the coach tried to give her lesser distances to cover. Hillier had a team of people working with her, including a physiotherapist and a strength and conditioning coach. They progressively worked on putting her back in shape. Slowly but steadily, the progress eventually started showing post rehabilitation.

Denied of the National Record Twice

From establishing a new National record in 100m Hurdles on May 10, 2022, to breaking the record for the fourth time within a span of six months, Jyothi Yarraji has done it all. However, the hurdler’s journey to becoming the national record holder consisted of hurdles and heartbreaks on the pathway.

Jyothi set a new national record at the 2020 All India Inter-University Athletics meet in Moodabidri, Karnataka, with a timing of 13.03 seconds. However, it was not recognized for two reasons there were no representatives of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) present which was why she was not tested post competition and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) did not send a technical delegate. These were the two requirements which were needed to be met for the ratification of a national record. This was the first instance when she was denied a national record.

Later, she ran 13.09 seconds at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode but was denied the record yet again because it was a wind-assisted performance. The wind speed was +2.1m/s, which was slightly higher than the permissible limit of +2m/s. It was the second time when she faced such an incident and the youngster was devastated after the competition. Little did she know that those two instances would eventually lead her way to record-breaking successes.

Four-time National Record Breaking Hurdler

She finally achieved the national record in the month of May when she claimed the Cyprus International Athletics event on May 11 with a timing of 13.23s. With this, she shattered Anuradha Biswal’s record of 13.38 seconds set in Chennai, 20 years ago. After 11 days, she improved her time to 13.11 secs at the Loughborough International Athletics Meet on May 22. Her best timing came on May 26th, when she ran 13.04s, just 0.01s slower than her personal best (then) in the Harry Schulting Games. When competing in the heats, Jyothi broke the national record again but she skipped the final. Later, in October, she became the first Indian woman hurdler to break the 13-second barrier. On 18 October 2022, she achieved the feat at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru, clocking 12.82s (new NR) with wind assistance of +0.9 m/s.

Jyothi Yarraji: Records

Jyoti Yarraji: Achievements

1) Jyoti is the national record holder in 100m Hurdles for India. She surpassed Anuradha Biswal’s long-standing 20-year record of 13.38 seconds on May 10, 2022, when she ran 13.23s at the Cyprus International Athletics Meeting in Limassol, thus breaking the national record. With a timing of 13.04 secs, she went on to break her own record once again at the Harry Schulting Games in late May 2022.

2) On October 17, 2022, she became the first Indian woman hurdler to clock below 13 seconds. She accomplished the feat at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru when she clocked 12.82s (new NR) with a wind assistance of +0.9 m/s. As a result, she finished the year as the second-best Asian woman in the 100-meter hurdles and ranked as the 11th-best Asian overall.

3) For her record-breaking achievement of clocking under 13 secs, Jyoti was adjudged as the ‘Best Female Athlete’ at the 61st National Open Athletics Championships.

4) Before clocking 12.82, she had clocked another sub-13 during the National Games 2022 held in Gujarat when she ran the 100m hurdles in 12.79 secs. However, the wind speed showed +2.5 m/s which was beyond the allowed limit of +2m/s. As a result of which, it was not considered a National Record.