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3 min readBhubaneswarUpdated: Jun 27, 2026 11:16 AM IST
Hurdler Harshita R of Tamil Nadu finishing alone in 400m hurdles. (Express Photo by Pritish Raj)
In the scorching morning heat of Bhubaneswar, 20-year-old Harshita R was jumping through the hurdles alone in the 400m hurdles event.
The reason behind her running alone is a technical gaffe when the technical committee responsible for conducting the races failed to place a hurdle in her lane during the first heat of the 400m hurdles event yesterday.
Harshita, who was placed in the eighth lane of heat 1 yesterday, realized that the fifth hurdle was missing from her lane and she went to the seventh lane to cross the hurdle and continued in it.
She eventually finished with a timing of 1:01.03 to finish third in her heat and book her place for the final.
“I was confused during my race. First, I was confused if I had made a mistake. I couldn’t find the fifth hurdle and eventually crossed over to the seventh lane and continued in it,” Harshita said after her race in the morning.
After the race, she went to the technical committee and registered her verbal protest in front of them. “When I told them about it, they said it was my fault as I crossed the lanes. However, hurdlers have a rhythm and if I miss a hurdle, my rhythm will break. That is why I crossed the lane,” said Harshita.
When she registered her verbal protest, Harshita was asked to re-run the race in the morning alone by the technical committee. “They asked me to come in the morning and race again. They said if I record a timing of 1:02.00 or below, they will consider me for the final,” Harshita said.
Harshita finishing alone in the 400m hurdles after a technical mistake results in her running again.
Yesterday, there was one hurdle missing in her lane and she cut the lane in the heats. But it happened due to technical team placing one less hurdle in her lane.
Weird stuff pic.twitter.com/Ku1qF0V3fd
— Pritish Raj (@befikramusafir) June 27, 2026
Bizarre morning run
In the morning after the cancellation of 100m heats due to less participation, the hurdles were put back on the track for Harshita to run alone.
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Although this time there were ten hurdles on the track, Harshita managed to clock 1:02.54 and couldn’t qualify for the final.
“This is my first inter-state. Everybody in hurdles had to run two races but I thought of it as a semi-final. I had only one chance to qualify for the finals,” said Harshita with a brave face.
While the flash timing showed 1:02.43, her final timing of 1:02.54 meant that she wouldn’t feature in the final, robbing her of the chance.
The technical officials present at the6 venue didn’t explain why she was asked to run again while the Athletics Federation of India couldn’t be contacted.
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