Jinson Johnson

Jinson Johnson is an Indian track and field athlete born on 15th March 1991. He hails from Chakkittapara village of Kozhikode (Calicut) district in Kerala. He specializes and represents India internationally in 1500 meters and 800 meters events.

Background

Jinson Johnson was born to Kulachal Johnson and Shailaja. He comes from a humble family residing in Chakkittapara village of Kozhikode. Jinson has a younger sister Jithara Johnson.

Jinson picked up an interest in athletics at a young age. His talent was spotted by coach Peter Karimbanakuzhy during the district-level competitions. Peter is a coach at the sports academy situated in Chakkittapara village. Jinson joined the academy and began to train under him. He later moved to Kerala Sports Council academy in Kottayam. ‘

In 2009, at the age of 18, Jinson joined the Indian Army. He currently serves as Junior Commissioned Officer with the rank of Naib Subedar at the Indian Army. Jinson completed his school education at St. George’s High School in Kulathuvayal, Kozhikode, and later finished his graduation from Baselius College in Kottayam.

Rise to Glory

After receiving the training from Peter Karimbankuzhy, Jinson's athletics career began to take off. In 2010, won his first national by clinching Gold in the 800m event at the National Junior Sports Championships, followed by another Gold medal in the 1500m event National Sports Meet.

In 2015, he won his first International Gold medal in 800m events, followed by two Gold medals, one in 1500m event at the Asian Grand Prix in Thailand. A year later, he broke the national record in 800m with a timing of 1.46:98s at the Asian Grand Prix in Bengaluru and qualified for the Rio Olympics after achieving the qualification mark of 1:45.00s.

In 2018, Jinson shattered the 800m national record of 1:45.77s by clocking 1:45.65s and won the Gold medal, followed up with another Gold medal in 1500m with a timing of 3:45.12 seconds. He failed to qualify for the 1500m event at the Asian Games after missed the qualification mark by 12 milliseconds.

Major Achievements

Jinson Johnson’s first international success came in 2015 when he won the Silver medal in the 800m event by clocking 1:49.69 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan, China

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Jinson became the first athlete to represent India in the Olympics in the 800m event since 1984. But, his campaign ended after he failed to qualify for the semi-finals with a timing of 1:47.27 seconds. In 2017, he won the Bronze medal in 800m at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he shattered the 23-year-old 1500m national record of 3:38.00 seconds set by Bahadur Prasad, clocking 3:37:56s, and finished 5th in the 1500m event final. Later in August, he bagged the Silver medal in the 800m event with a timing of 1:46.35 seconds, followed up with a Gold medal in the 1500m by clocking 3:44.72s at the Jakarta Asian Games.

In 2019, Jinson made his appearance at the Asian Athletics Championships in the 1500m event but pulled out of the tournament after suffering from a calf injury. That year, he competed in the 1500m event at the World Athletics Championships but failed to qualify for the semi-finals after finishing 34th in the heats.

Jinson Johnson is now eyeing for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics berth in 800m and 1500m events through qualifying standards of 1:45.00s and 3:35.00s respectively.