Tejas also breached the qualification standard (13.63s) set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the Asian Games, while falling just short of the one for the Commonwealth Games (13.39s). | Photo Credit: AFI

Those 42-inch high hurdles in Tejas Shirse’s path to the finish line seem like easier obstacles to beat than the injuries that have plagued his career.

Sunday was no different. After being out of action for the last four months due to an ankle injury, Tejas was ready to have some fun on the track, the place where he feels at home. And boy did he perform!

The 23-year-old sprint hurdler from Maharashtra ran like he had a point to prove as he clocked 13.43s to emerge as the fastest man amongst the 25 participants at the Indian Athletics Series-6 event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai.

The timing was just two hundredths of a second slower than his own National Record. In the process, he also breached the qualification standard (13.63s) set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the Asian Games, while falling just short of the one for the Commonwealth Games (13.39s).

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Watching from the sidelines, James Hillier, his coach at the Reliance Foundation, was pleasantly surprised considering what his ward had gone through in the recent past.

Tejas had injured his right ankle during an indoor meeting in France in January which threw a spanner in the works. He was forced to abandon his plan of having a complete indoor season, and a shot at qualifying for the World Championships.

But Hillier saw this time away from the competitions as an opportunity to work on a long-term issue. “He has had a long-standing sort of foot or ankle injury which has been quite frustrating,” said the Brit.

“So, we ran a very strong strengthening programme for his feet and his ankles particularly as they were inherently weak anyway. It’s an area we needed to address. We just felt like this was a really good opportunity to do that while you’re not hurdling, sprinting, or doing all the sort of weight stuff that you would normally do to focus on your weaknesses. And you can do that when an athlete’s injured.”

Until three weeks ago, Tejas wasn’t allowed to go anywhere near the hurdles. “It was tough for him because he wants to hurdle all the time. We had a few issues but now, he is reaping the benefits,” said Hillier.

However, even the Brit did not expect Tejas to clock such a time in his comeback race. “I didn’t think he’d be able to run this quickly because he hasn’t even done a practice competition or hurdling on the marks yet. All the hurdling he’s done has been after bringing the spacings in a little bit,” he revealed.

Tejas’ performance also provided the fillip to Krishik M as the latter clocked 13.44s, making him the second-fastest Indian male sprint hurdler of all time, while running in the lane adjacent to his training partner.

Now, for Tejas, a different hurdle is waiting as he chases the dream of competing at the Commonwealth Games. The Federation Cup, set to be held in Ranchi from May 22 to May 25, will act as the final selection trial for the CWG.

But according to AFI’s policy, Tejas needs to have participated in at least two meets recognised and approved by the federation in order to be eligible to run at the Federation Cup. However, there are no more domestic track and field events left for him before the competition in Ranchi. The hurdler has sent an email to AFI, requesting for an exemption due to his injury.

“It’s a very good process because it is encouraging athletes to compete. Of course, the challenges come when you’ve got elite athletes that are coming back from injuries and simply can’t compete. There’s no way Tejas could have competed before today. It just wouldn’t have been possible. So, we are just keeping AFI in the loop and hopefully, since he’s very close to Commonwealth Games qualification, they’ll look favourably and allow him to compete at the Federation Cup,” said Hillier.

Published on May 10, 2026