Mohammed Afsal breaks 800m national record at UAE Athletics Grand Prix

DUBAI: Indian athlete Mohammed Afsal broke the men’s 800 m national record at the UAE Athletics Grand Prix 2025 in Dubai.

On Friday, while competing at Dubai Police Club Stadium, the 29-year-old Afsal, with a time of one minute and 45.61 seconds (1:45.61), secured the second spot in a 10-man field, as per Olympics.com. The top spot was secured by Kenya’s Nicholas Kiplagat (1:45.38) while South Africa’s Christopher Swart finished second with 1:45.84.

Muhammad Afsal has set a new national record in the men’s 800m, clocking 1:45.61 at the UAE Athletics Grand Prix.

The previous mark of 1:45.65 by Jinson Johnson (2018). pic.twitter.com/JtjVAjjG5D

— Abhishek Mishra (@mishraABH1SHEK) May 9, 2025

Afsal’s time was 0.04 seconds faster than the previous national record holder, Jinson Johnson, who clocked the timings of 1:45.65 during the 2018 National Inter-State Championships in Guwahati. Afsal is also an Asian Games silver medalist, having won it in the 2022 edition at Hangzhou with timings of 1:48.43.

Kenya’s David Rudisha holds the world record in the men’s 800 m event, clocking a time of 1:40.91 in the 2012 London Olympics, where he won the gold.

Also, Animesh Kujur, who broke the men’s 200 m national record at the Federation Cup last month in Kochi with a 20.40s run, finished just 0.05 seconds slower to win the event and set a new meet record in Dubai. His run is the fastest by an Indian in the men’s 200 m on foreign soil.

At the second and third sports were Mahamat Goubaye Youssouf (20.93s) of Chad and Emmanuel Bamidele of UAE (20.97s), respectively. Kujur was also in the men’s 4×100 m relay event-winning Indian team. Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidar, and Amlan Borgohain clocked 38.76s to win the event.

This same quartet had also broken the national record with a 38.69-second run at the National Open Relay Carnival held in Chandigarh last month.

Also, India’s David Solomon topped the men’s long jump competition with the best effort of 7.78m, 0.67 m better than his previous best. The podium was filled further by Al Yerabi (7.61m) of Oman and Marko Ceko (7.60m) of Croatia, respectively.

In the women’s long jump event, the Asian Championships silver medalist Shaili Singh landed the second place with an effort of 6.44 m, with Egypt’s Esraa Owis landing the first place with 6.67 m. The Asian Games 2022 silver medalist, Ancy Sojan, further added to India’s solid run at the event with a third spot in the women’s long jump with 6.33 m.

In the men’s 100 m, India’s national record holder Gurindervir Singh finished eighth with a timing of 10.41s. Mohamed Sinan captured a second place in the men’s 400 m race with a timing of 46.67 seconds, behind UAE’s Suleiman Abdirahman (45.66s). Sawant Poorva, with an effort of 13.09m, finished third in women’s triple jump. (ANI)