The clock is no longer driving Kujur's racesHe has since been thinking less about producing a particular time in every race. 6.

32 at the Asian Championships. Animesh Kujur won bronze medal in 200m at 2025 Asian Championships (Image credit: Special arrangement)“So when it has to happen, it will happen,” he said.

“No matter how much you push, the conditions should be like that, competition should be like that, and the atmosphere should be like that. And it's all about that day.”

There is a similar change in his 100m target. The conversation around Kujur had once centred on whether he could break 10 seconds.

“No, I don't think of 10 flat, now I think of running 9,” he said. 16 race,” he said.

“So it's okay, when it has to come, it comes.” The lessons from his first international campaignWhat matters now is getting the body to the right point.

Kujur's first major international experience came at the 2025 Asian Championships, where he won bronze in the 200m. He says he was under pressure because he was representing India officially for the first time.

“And the mistakes I made in the Asian Championships, I won't make again,” he said. “Because I was first international.

Officially, I was representing India. And I was under pressure for that.”

Since then, he has raced at the World Championships, on the Continental Tour and at other international competitions. “With the upcoming LA Olympics, [the coaches have told me] don't miss any chance to make a mistake.

And our ultimate aim is the LA Olympics,” Kujur said. Learning when to push - and when to back offThe Asian Games therefore arrive after a season in which Kujur has learned more about managing the work around the races.

That will be particularly relevant in Aichi-Nagoya. “Yes, it is the same condition where I train.

Same humidity, same heat,” he said. “And last time I competed in the World Championship.

”“I know what form I am in, how my body is behaving, what time to take my body, when to peak, when to reduce the load, all the things that we have learned from the last year, how to maintain everything,” he said. There is also a sizeable support system behind Kujur's preparation.

Animesh Kujur with Martin Owens (Image credit: Special arrangement)“I have a lot of people on my support, like Reliance, Odisha Government, then TOPS, Athletic Federation of India, and others, and Puma, they never let me down,” he said. “Everyone wants me to improve, in every field, whether it's performance wise, or mental peace, or anything else.

As a normal human being, everyone wants me to improve.” ‘I know I am going to do well’He has already won an Asian medal.

“The success of the Asian Games will be a life-changing moment for me, because I have never won a medal in such a big game,” he said. “Sure shot medal,” Kujur said.

“I have won all three.”

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