Indian men's 4x400m relay team shatter Asian record, narrowly miss out on Olympic finals with 4th place finish

The Indian men's 4x400 relay team, comprising Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom and Amoj Jacob, broke the Asian record, clocking 3:00.25 to finish fourth in their heat at the 2021 Olympics.

They improved on Qatar’s 3:00.56 set at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The Japanese team also came close to breaking the area mark but fell short by 0.2 seconds.

The Indian quartet, however, failed to qualify for the final, finishing ninth overall among 16 teams. The top three teams from each of the two heats along with two teams with the next best timings made their way to Saturday’s showdown.

Poland won heat two. They were followed by Jamaica and Belgium. Third-placed Belgium were just 0.88 seconds quicker than the Indian team. With five teams in heat one finishing quicker, India missed out on that count as well.

The Indian quartet had clocked 3:01.89 at the inter-state athletics meet in Patiala to jump to 13th position in the world rankings. This guaranteed them a place at the Tokyo Olympics as the top 16 teams made the cut for the Summer Games.

Indian quartet were disqualified in Rio

Despite the heartbreak, this was a step-up from their performance at the Rio Olympics. A baton exchange between two runners was deemed illegal and the team were disqualified in 2016.

With scores of international competitions in the near future, the Indian team will look to make positive strides and improve further.

🇮🇳India miss out on the #Tokyo2020 4x400m final by just one spot, but get to take home an Asian record 3:00.25 👏 pic.twitter.com/Dnq7Pxtx2I

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 6, 2021