Tejas Shirse, a 24-year-old Indian athlete, has broken his own national record in the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.27 seconds at the Indian Athletics Series 9 in Ludhiana. This achievement has secured his qualification for the Commonwealth Games (CWG). Shirse's previous national record was 13.41 seconds, set in 2024.
The CWG qualification mark is 13.39 seconds, and Shirse's performance has exceeded this mark. He had previously missed out on qualification in the Federation Cup in Ranchi and the New Taipei City Athletics Open. However, he was determined to make it count in the Ludhiana event, which was the last qualifying event for CWG.
Shirse had created a manifestation board on his iPad at the start of the season, listing his goals for the year. He had ticked off the first item on the wishlist, which was to achieve a time of 13.27 seconds. He attributed his success to taking enough time for recovery and not pushing himself too hard, unlike in the New Taipei City Athletics Open where he timed 13.58 seconds for a second place.
Shirse will next be in action at the Inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar, followed by a training stint in the Czech Republic leading up to the Glasgow CWG (July 23-Aug 2). He aims to become a good, wholesome athlete and not someone who can run fast occasionally.
