Gurindervir, who holds the national record, finished second in Heat 4 with a time of 10.39 seconds. Unfortunately, this was not enough, placing him 39th overall across the 11 initial heats. Only the top 17 competitors moved on to the semifinals, with seven others having already received byes.
The Punjab sprinter’s performance fell short of his national record of 10.09 seconds, set at the Federation Cup in Ranchi earlier this year, making him the first Indian to break the 10.10-second threshold.
Competing in lane five, Gurindervir had a strong start and remained close to Jamaica’s Rohan Watson in the early stages. However, Watson accelerated over the final 30 meters to win decisively in 10.13 seconds. Watson, whose personal best is 9.91 seconds, finished significantly ahead in a race held under a legal tailwind of 1.9 m/s.
The fastest athletes advancing to the semifinals were Ghana’s Benjamin Azamati, who logged 10.00 seconds, and his compatriot Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, finishing in 10.01 seconds.
Although Gurindervir’s journey ended prematurely, Murali Sreeshankar gave India a reason to celebrate in athletics.
The Commonwealth Games silver medalist secured his spot in the men’s long jump final by surpassing the automatic qualification standard on his first attempt. Sreeshankar jumped 8.01 meters in Group A, easily clearing the qualifying requirement of 8.00m without needing any additional attempts.
The Indian, who has a season’s best of 8.38m, heads into the final as one of the top contenders for a medal.
India also saw success in swimming, as Sajan Prakash advanced to the men’s 200m butterfly final.
Sajan finished second in Heat 2 with a time of 1:58.59, trailing only Scotland’s Duncan Scott (1:58.29), and qualified as the sixth fastest swimmer overall for the eight-man final slated for later on Monday.
Australia’s Harrison Turner led the qualification standings with a time of 1:56.47, followed by New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt (1:57.35) and England’s Edward Mildred (1:57.99).
