Adithya strikes triple gold with 1/100th of a second win in 200m

Adithya Aji, a plus two student of Navamukunda HSS, Thirunavaya in Malappuram, has turned the track into a gold mine, winning her third gold medal at the Kerala State School Athletics Championship in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, delivering on the promise she made before the meet to win all the events she participates in. 

The 200-metre Senior Girls final proved to be a pulsating finish, where Adithya edged past Jyoti Upadhya of St Joseph’s HSS, Pullorampara by just 0.01 seconds, stopping the clock at 24.75 seconds to Jyoti’s 24.76 seconds, in one of the closest finishes of the championship so far. Soniya E J of R M Higher Secondary School, Aloor in Thrissur secured the third place with 25.89 seconds. 

Adithya has now completed a clean sweep in every event she has entered this year, underlining why she is widely known as the "queen of speed" of school Olympics. 

She had already won the Senior Girls 100-metre race, bettering her performance from last year's silver to gold. She also improved the timing in the 100-metre hurdles from 14.21 seconds to 14.06 seconds to retain the first place. 

Adithya will step into the territory of professional athletics next season when she finishes school. It was her deep love for athletics that first drew her to Navamukunda HSS, and it is the same relentless passion that continues to drive her success. She had earlier won the Junior Individual Championship in 2023.

However, she understands that she wouldn't dominate the tracks as she has in state schools in recent years.  "Looking back, I was so scared of hurdles. I was worried of getting hurt even during warm-ups," Adithya said. Gradually, she grew in confidence and now regards the hurdles as her main event, and does the other sprint events to better her timing. "Doing 100 and 200 has actually helped me do the hurdles well. You get the acceleration from training for 100 and you also gain from the entrance to the 200," Adithya said.

For now, she leaves Thiruvananthapuram on a perfect note by fulfilling her dream of claiming a hat-trick of gold medals to sign off her school athletics journey in style.