New Delhi: Late last month, when Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath ran 1:48.33 to finish fourth at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championship in Kochi, he had lingering doubts about his technique and potential.
He had started the season with a win at the National Games in Dehradun in February and followed it up with a second-place result at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Bengaluru in March. The timings, however, were disappointing – 1:49.13 and 1:47.09 respectively.
The Federation Cup was his third successive below-par run (1:48.33) in as many outings, and so Afsal approached his coach Ajith Markose at the Reliance Foundation centre in Bengaluru.
“We went through a few of my races and the coach concluded that I was slipping tactically. Timing the acceleration and pacing yourself are crucial in 800m, and the coach helped me in those aspects,” Afsal said.
A fortnight later, Afsal paced himself better and broke the national record with a 1:45.61 run at UAE Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai to take the second place. He finished behind Kenya’s Nicholas Kiplagat, who clocked 1:45.38s to win the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level competition.
The previous national record was held by his Kerala statemate Jinson Johnson who ran 1:45.65 at the Guwahati Inter State Championships in 2018. “I really look up to Jinson and running him close that day gave me the belief that I can break his record someday. Finally, it has happened and I hope it is the start of a new phase in my career,” Afsal, who is employed as a Junior Warrant Officer in the Indian Air Force, said.
Jinson was among the first to call him when Afsal went past his mark last week. “He is very happy for me. I have trained a lot with him and he has always helped me get better,” he said. Incidentally, Afsal’s then PB of 1:46.79 had come in the same race in which Johnson set the national record but he has since struggled for consistency.
“I need to get tactically sound. I haven’t had much international success but I feel with better planning, I will be able to deliver much more,” Afsal, the Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist (1:48.43), said.
“I need to have a better understanding of pace. Like in Hangzhou, the Dubai final was a slow race while the semi-final was fast. In slow races, leaders tend to drop speed in last 100m, so it is all about conserving yourself and pushing at the right time.”
The Dubai effort was Afsal’s first sub-1:46 run of his career but it wasn’t good enough to breach the 2025 World Championships automatic qualification time of 1:44.50s. Earlier, Afsal had also missed the marker (1:47.77s) for this month’s Asian Championship.
“I would’ve made the cut for the Asian event had I planned my race better. I am now focussed on collecting enough ranking points to make it to the Worlds,” he said.
Afsal is likely to head to Europe for a bunch of competitions in June for exposure he believes will help him get better. “I truly believe Indians can run 1:44 provided we work on our tactical nous,” the 29-year-old concluded.