Jyothi Yarraji confident of running faster now, says coach James Hillier

New Delhi: Three years ago, James Hillier asked Jyothi Yarraji about her best quality. It was after his first training session with the 100m hurdler, who had impressed the British coach in a domestic meet. “Speed” Jyothi declared. That moment assured Hillier that his new trainee not only had talent and skills, but was also aware of her strengths.

Of course, natural speed needed to be developed. Technique, explosive power, agility and precision, along with speed, must all come together while skimming over 10 hurdles of 2ft 9inches over 100m. Jyothi has since become stronger, faster, and snappier over the hurdles. She broke the national record in 2022, and has since bettered that mark a staggering 11 times.

The 24-year-old Andhra athlete has become the first Indian woman to qualify for 100m hurdles at the Olympics. Ranked 34th in the Road to Paris rankings, qualification was never in doubt for Jyothi. But it was the entry standard of 12.77secs that she was chasing.

At the Motonet GP Jyvaskyla meet in Finland, Jyothi looked set to surpass the mark until her leading leg struck the final hurdle. She clocked 12.78secs – an agonising 0.01secs from the automatic qualification mark. It was the second time she had missed the mark, having timed 12.78secs at the World University Games to win bronze last year.

Crashing into the final hurdle led to a hip flexor injury, which put her out of action for a month. Hillier though prefers to look at the positives from that race in Finland.

“That race in Jyvaskyla is the best she has expressed her speed. She had shown glimpses of her speed before, but in this race she was really quick,” Hillier says.

“That’s how I want her to do it – hitting the right positions, good aggression. When you are moving that quickly you have just got to be so accurate. She just got fast, just close to the last hurdle, hitting with the lead leg, but somehow still managed to stay on her feet which is a testament to how strong she is now.”

Hillier feels the race gave her the confidence she can run faster.

“If she had not hit the last hurdle, she would have (got the standard). She ran at a 12.6 pace. So, she knows now that she can now do it again at that pace,” the former Great Britain athlete who is athletics director at Reliance Foundation told HT.

This will be Jyothi’s first Olympics and Hillier’s realistic expectation is for her clock a personal best. A more ambitious target is to qualify for the final. At the World Championships last year, she clocked 13.04secs in the heats but could not progress.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, she claimed silver (12.91secs) in a tough field. The hip flexor injury pegged her back a bit, but she recovered and tested herself at the Inter-State meet in Panchkula last week, winning at a modest 13.06secs.

“Last four weeks, she has been doing a lot of work with her posture, working out in the gym. She will come out even stronger than before. By the time of the Olympics, she will be absolutely ready to go.”