When Animesh runs next, in the Inter-State and then the World Athletics Championships, he will be a much more mature athlete, that’s for sure says his coach
His idol is Usain Bolt and he is dubbed as India;s fastest man ever seen. That’s Animesh Kujur from Bhubhaneshwar, Odisha. Recognised today as one of the country’s most promising star in athletics, he has aced many records in the 100 and 200 metres as a sprinter under the guidance of his coach, Martin Owens, current head of the Odisha Reliance High Performance Centre.
But strange as this might seem, athletics was not his first love – it was football. But once he had taken to athletics seriously, there was no looking back for Animesh and he progressed quickly.
According to Animesh, “After I ran in the 2021 National Games (semi-final), I won a medal at the U-23 level”. That was the mpment when the young sprinter began to seriously look into the full-time prospects in athletics.
However, the big break came a year later when. Martin Owens, current head of the Odisha Reliance High Performance Centre, saw Animesh running in the U-23 tournament and straight away took him under his wings.
But Animesh’s transition to athletics wasn’t easy. The introduction to Reliance was difficult. The physios and biomechanics doctors at the Sports Science Centre were skeptical about Animesh. But Martin stuck by him, convinced of his talent, and it paid dividends in the following years.
Animesh’s current best timing in the 100m sprint is 10.18 seconds. His coach blames the starting blocks for a bad start that robbed him of precious seconds. “He could have done the run in 10.08 sec” said coach Martin
Much of Animesh’s maturity this season has come from Europe, especially the Diamond League. He was the first Indian 200m athlete to participate in the competition, albeit in the U-23 category.
Animesh says “I learnt a lot in the Diamond League. The athletes there have such an aura when they walk. I saw the intensity was so different. Even their warm-up is intense. As Indian athletes, the mentality is ‘don’t warm up too hard or you’ll get tired.’ But no, everything works fine. You just have to shift your mentality,”..
When Animesh runs next, in the Inter-State and then the World Athletics Championships, he will be a much more mature athlete, that’s for sure says his coach.
His activities and participation in athletic event throughout 2025 will give him a better picture and perspective, a worldview of how athletics works.
With the World Championships (September 2025 in Tokyo) around the corner and bigger venues ahead like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games Glasgow (both in 2026), and Los Angeles Olympics (2028), Animesh’s focus is on experience, consistency, and refinement. He’s building a career, one race at a time, Coach Owens added.
