Muhammad Anas

Muhammad Anas Yahiya is an Indian sprinter born 17th September 1994. He specializes in a 400m run. He hails from Nilammel village in the Kollam district of Kerala.

Background

Muhammad Anas Yahiya was to Yahiya and Sheena. He comes from a humble family background residing in Kerala’s Kollam district. His father Yahiya passed away due to cardiac arrest.

Anas picked up his interest in athletics at the age of 10. Initially, he started his athletics career in the long jump and later switched to a 400m run when the coach asked him to participate in the 400m athletic race as there was a vacancy in his squad.

Muhammad Anas had to go through hardships and had to quit the sport after his father passed away. His mother encouraged him to pursue his sport.

Rise to Glory

Muhammad Anas Yahiya’s first competition in 400m run was in 2000 at a carnival under the direction of the coach. He clocked 49 seconds in a 400m athletic run.

Muhammad Anas athletics began to take off when he won medals at the district and state levels competitions. In 2012, Anas won a Gold medal in Junior National Championships. 2 years later, he won a Gold medal in Calicut University Championship in a 400m run. He defended his Gold medal at the championship in 2015.

In 2014, Muhammad Anas Yahiya represented Calicut University in 400m athletic event at the Indian University Championships and won a Silver. Anas had won a bag of medals while representing Calicut University.

At the 2015 National Games, Muhammad Anas and his team won a Silver medal in the 4*400m relay. In 2016, Anas got a breakthrough in his career after he won a Silver medal in a 400m individual event at the Senior National Athletics Championships. In that same year, he made an improvement in his timing by clocking below 46 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix and Federation Cup, both held in Delhi.

Later that year, Anas made his international athletics debut at the Polish Athletics Championships and broke the national record in 400m by clocking 45.44 seconds in the heats. In the final of the championships, he shattered his own national record with a timing of 45.40 seconds. This feat secured him a berth at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Muhammad Anas participated in the 2016 South Asian Games held in Guwahati and won his 1st International Gold medal in 4*400m men’s relay.

In 2019, Anas bettered his national record by clocking 45.21s and won a Gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in the Czech Republic

Major Achievements

Muhammad Anas Yahiya represented India at the 2016 Rio Olympics in a 400m individual event and 4*400 relay team event. Anas was the 3rd Indian to compete in 400m after Milkha Singh in 1956 and 1960 and K Mathews Binu in 2004. In the following year, Anas bagged 2 Gold medals in 400m individual and 4*400 men’s relay team events at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneshwar.

In 2018, Muhammad Anas competed in 400m individual and 4*400m men’s relay events at the Commonwealth Games held at Jakarta in Indonesia but didn't get any medals in either of the participated events. Later that year, Anas participated at the Asian Games and won his 2nd individual international Gold medal in a 400m individual event followed by 2 Silver medals in 4*400m men’s relay and 4*400 mixed relay events.

In 2019, Muhammad Anas won a Silver medal at the Asian Athletics Championships held in Doha. The Government of India awarded him the Arjuna Award in recognition of his achievements at the Asian Games and Asian Athletics Championships.

Anas will be representing India at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Currently, he will compete in 4*400m men’s relay and 4*400m mixed relay events. Anas is looking to make a cut in the 400m individual event after failing to achieve the Olympics qualification mark of 44.50s.