The opening day of the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2025 in Chennai saw meet records fall in the women’s 5000m and men’s pole vault.
Competing at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Wednesday, Seema powered to gold in the women’s 5000m, clocking 15:42.64 to eclipse the previous meet record of 15:46.92 set by L Suriya in 2017.
Ravina Gayakwad (16:53.24) and Sanghamitra Mahata (18:04.36) finished second and third, respectively.
The women’s 5000m national record of 15:10.35 belongs to Parul Chaudhary, who is not competing at the Inter-State Championships.
The men’s pole vault also produced a record as Reegan G and M Gowtham cleared 5.20m distances to share the gold medal.
The two Indian athletes bettered the previous meet record of 5.11m set by S Siva last year. Kamal Loganathan (5.00m) claimed bronze. The national record of 5.35m was set by Dev Kumar Meena in Kochi earlier this year.
The 64th edition of the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships also serves as the final qualifying event for Indian athletes ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.
The qualifying window for Tokyo25 closes on August 24.
Seven finals were decided on day one, though none of the Indian track and field athletes managed to breach the entry standards for the global meet.
Home favourites Tamil Arasu and Dhanalakshmi Seka won the men’s and women’s 100m sprints, respectively.