Fayetteville (USA), Jan 31 (.) India’s Pradeep Senthilkumar broke the national record in the men’s 800m short track indoor event at the Razorback Invitational 2026 athletics meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday.
According to Olympics.com, the 22-year-old clocked 1:48.09 seconds to finish seventh overall, bettering his own previous national mark of 1:48.60 seconds set at the same venue, the Randal Tyson Indoor Track, in February last year.
Senthilkumar finished second in Heat 3 in a competitive field. James Harding won the race in 1:46.83, followed by Elliott Cook (1:46.94) and Matthew Erickson (1:47.26).
This was the third occasion on which Senthilkumar has improved the Indian national record in the men’s 800m indoor event. He first claimed the record last year in Columbia, Missouri, clocking 1:48.73 to surpass Rajeev Ramesan’s long-standing mark of 1:49.46 set in 2008.
The Razorback Invitational marked Senthilkumar’s second competitive outing of the 2026 season, following his participation at the Thane Baker Invitational in Manhattan earlier this month, where he competed in the 600-yard short track and 4x400m relay events.
Born in Chennai, Senthilkumar also holds the Indian men’s 600m indoor national record, with a timing of 1:17.71 set last year.
The Indian outdoor men’s 800m national record is held by Mohammed Afsal, who clocked 1:44.93 at the Memoriał Czesława Cybulskiego meet in Poland last year.
The Razorback Invitational is a Category F event under the World Athletics calendar, conducted as a national permit competition.
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