Video: Hima Das creates history for India at IAAF World U20

Indian sprinter Hima Das stormed into the women’s 400m final as the fastest runner in the semi-finals heats on day two of the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships on Wednesday.

https://youtu.be/K5fyv6swgxA

The 18-year-old Das clocked 52.10 seconds to win the semi-finals heat number one and led the overall time charts. She had also led the time charts in the first round heats yesterday with a timing of 52.25.

Another Indian in the fray, Jisna Mathew, however, failed to make the finals after finishing fifth in semi-finals heat number 2 with a time of 53.86 and 13th overall.

Andrea Miklos of Romania was the second in overall time charts in 52.58.

The first two finishers in each of the four heats and the next two fastest qualify for the final which will be run tomorrow.

Das is a favourite to win gold as she is the U-20 season leader in this quartermile event. If the Assam girl happens to win gold, she will become the first Indian athlete to do so in a track event in an U-20 World Championships.

Das clocked an Indian U-20 record of 51.32 seconds to finish sixth in the Commonwealth Games 400m final in Gold Coast in April. Since then, she has gone onto improving her timings. She lowered the Indian U-20 record in 400m to 51.13 seconds while winning gold in the recent National Inter State Championships in Guwahati.