Tamil Nadu’s Vishal TK breaks men’s 400m national record with sensational run

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New Delhi: Tamil Nadu’s Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi is the new national record holder in the men’s 400m national after recording a time of 45.12 seconds at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai on Thursday.

The 21-year-old athlete ran a breathtaking race to leave his rivals way behind at the finishing line and cemented his status as the No.1 quarter-miler in the country. He broke the national record of 45.21 seconds, which was held by Muhammed Anas since 2019.

 

Vishal continues to impress

Vishal’s previous best time was 45.57 seconds during his fourth-place finish at the 2025 Asian Championships in South Korea in May. He was part of India’s gold-winning mixed 4x400m relay team and silver-winning men’s 4x400m relay quartet.

Courtesy of his sensational run, Vishal became the fourth fastest Asian 400m runner of the season, behind Yuki Joseph Nakajima (44.84 seconds) of Japan, Ammar Ismail Ibrahim (44.90 seconds) of Qatar and Liukai Liu (45.06 seconds) of China.

Despite his record-breaking performance, he finished well behind the automatic World Championships qualification time of 44.85 seconds.

Seasoned racer Rajesh Ramesh, Vishal’s Tamil Nadu teammate, was second with 46.04 seconds while Haryana’s Vikrant Panchal finished third with 46.17 seconds.

Vishal’s career has witnessed a meteoric rise since entering the athletics arena in 2022. He started racing in the individual 400m discipline only in 2024, when his best was 46.77 seconds.

But this year, he has become the country’s undisputed king in the quarter mile, winning the Federation Cup National Championships title in April with a time of 46.19 seconds.

He recently won a 400m gold in the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level meet in Bhubaneswar with a time of 45.72 seconds.