Jyothi Yarraji is not known for her explosive starts. Usually, the 25-year-old starts off strong and picks up speed in the second half of the race. Despite not being the most typical rhythm, it has proven beneficial for India's best hurdler.

Yarraji won the 100-meter hurdles at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea on Thursday, breaking the Championship record of 12.97 seconds set by Yun Feng of China in 1998, by sticking to her well-known approach. China's Wu Yanni and Japan's Yumi Tanaka came in second place with times of 13.07 seconds. In the chilly and rainy weather, Yarraji was the only competitor to break the 13-second barrier.

She had a sluggish start from lane 7 and stayed in the bottom two until the fifth barrier. At that point, her characteristic acceleration began to take effect. At the eighth obstacle, she overtook her rivals and sped ahead, reaching the finish line at full speed. She then let out a roar of joy.

"I don't often yell out in excitement." Even though I've cried out in grief in the past, this celebration was a first for me, she said. Yarraji, who is recovering from a hamstring injury that hampered her training last month, was able to appreciate the magnitude of the situation thanks to her vocal celebration.

Despite not being in top form, she competed in and won the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition in Kochi, which is a necessary qualifier for the Asian Championships, with a time of 13.23 seconds. The qualifying threshold established by the Athletics Federation of India was 13.26 seconds.

With qualification secured, Yarraji started preparing for her title defense at the Asian Championships under the guidance of James Hillier, the Athletics Director of the Reliance Foundation. She concentrated on strength training in the gym to become stronger and leaner since her injury restricted her time on the track. However, her race preparation was still up in the air.

"She's leaner, healthier, and quicker than before." She has the lowest amount of body fat she has ever had. She has achieved a few PBs in the gym, but I would not consider her to be in perfect race condition. For us, this competition arrived three weeks sooner than it should have, according to Hillier.

In addition to the conditions in Gumi, Yarraji also had to deal with her recent absence of sub-13s runs; she hadn't recorded one since May 2024. The championship was postponed for over two hours by a severe rainstorm, forcing her to warm up in a temporary storage area close to the track.

"We were pounded by a terrible rainstorm. The sky opened right as Jyothi was getting ready to warm up. The competition was postponed for two hours due to a massive thunderstorm and a temperature drop. Eventually, she was doing warm-ups in a storage area. Hillier said it was insane.

Yarraji started to imagine the race while standing in a small 10-meter space with hardly any room to move around. She maintained composure and concentration, drawing on her experience, whereas some rivals became irritated.

“I used the delay to visualize everything – how I would begin off the blocks, how I would approach the hurdles, etc. I realized I would have a decent chance of winning if I stuck with the girls through the initial challenges. I concentrated hard and didn't allow my thoughts to stray, she stated.

Even if she wasn't thinking about the World Championships qualifying time of 12.73 seconds, she thought she could run 12.70 seconds, which would have been a personal best (PB) and a straight route to the September Worlds in Tokyo. Her all-time best time is now 12.78 seconds.

If the weather had been different, I would have ran 12.70s. I felt that well, she said.

Hillier maintained, though, that they were not attempting to beat the clock. "I just wanted her to run the race." The track was a little slow, the wind was blowing against us, and the temperature was really cold. The emphasis was on winning, not on chasing time.

At this event, Yarraji will also participate in the 200-meter race. She and Hillier will then travel to Taipei for the Taiwan Athletics Open, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze competition. When they return to India, they will focus on technical training, especially on enhancing her early race speed.

"We'll go to Europe after a few weeks of preparation in India. By then, I'm sure she'll be going after the first five barriers more quickly. That will prepare her even more for the race's latter stages, according to Hillier.

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