A runaway hit: How Hima Das collected 5 medals in a month

The venues and events changed but the resilient Hima Das clinching gold medals for India remained constant.

A 19-year-old Indian girl hailing from a small district in Assam beating all the odds and then making the headlines seems like a fairy tale. However, the sensational Indian runner has made it happen within 19 odd days.

Hima Das was born in the year 2000 in Assam and faced financial constraints since her childhood days.

Taking up running as a sporting career was never in her mind. Later on, someone suggested her to take it up seriously after getting impressed with her abillity.

Then, she was fortunate enough to meet Nipon Das, who is her coach now. Nipon Das got fascinated seeing her talent and persuaded the young sprinter to go with him to Guwahati and prepare for international tournaments.

After that, things started to fall in place for the young girl as she was having the much-needed guidance.

Her record haul and what lies ahead

It all started in July last year when she participated in the 400 m race at IAAF World U-20 Athlete Championships held at Finland. She clocked 51.46 seconds in that race to claim gold medal for India and also became the first Indian athlete to do so. Greetings poured in from every nook and corner of the country for the resilient young athlete. Later on, she went on to become the first ever youth brand ambassador of UNICEF India and also became Assam's brand ambassador for sports.

But, Hima was hungry for more success. This time she trained for a bigger purpose and gave her all to win five consecutive gold medals for India in a month. She won all her gold medals in a span of 19 days.

The Dhing Express was once again the centre of attraction and got even more recognition and honor. What this 19-year-old has done in 19 days has taken the entire country by storm. Her performance became a trending topic with many taking it to social media and other platforms to congratulate her work.

This historic achievement began on July 2, 2019. She participated in her first competitive 200m race of the season at Pozhan Athletics Grand Prix held at Poland and took only 23.65 seconds to win the precious gold medal for India.

After five days, she geared up again with confidence and started her second 200 m race at Kutno Athletics Meet held at Poland. The scintillating athlete clinched her second gold medal for the country with a time of 23.97 seconds.

Then, On July 13th, she appeared in her third 200 m race of the season at Kladno Athletics Meet, the Czech Republic. The result was the same and hence, she successfully recorded a hat trick of gold medals. This time she managed to get past the finishing line in 23.43 seconds only.

On July 17th, the race was again in the Czech Republic but the event was Tabor Athletics Meet. She showed her valor again and took the tally to four consecutive gold medals in the first 17 days of the month. Improving on her earlier performance, she completed the race in only 23.25 seconds this time.

Three days later, She ran her first 400m race at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix after an injury earlier this season. She clocked 52.09 seconds to finish the race with a gold medal to complete the haul of five gold medals.

Although this timing was lower than her personal best record of 50.79 seconds, it was the season-best for her. Moreover, her this timing i.e. of 52.09 seconds falls short in achieving the qualification mark for World Championship, which is set at 51.80 seconds.

Also, a critical observation of her participation in all these events reveals that she was not facing the best athletes of this sport. Presently, Shaunae Miller-Uibot is on the top of the World level rankings chart with a record timing of 49.05 seconds.

Hence, Hima Das is in a dire need to better her timings in order to qualify for the upcoming World Championship and, she is yet to have a spot among the best players in the world level rankings similar to what PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom had achieved in their respective fields.

Anyhow, the confidence she had received in the past 19 days is surely going to help her to deliver more and find herself amongst the top-class athletes in coming days.

We need to admit this fact too that, 'The Golden girl' not only ran faster than the others but also improved her running time with each race.

The interesting fact is that Hima not only attained five consecutive gold medals but also won millions of hearts when she announced to donate half of her monthly salary to help her hometown that was hit by the recent floods in Assam.

Hima has had a dream season so far and her splendid performance will surely encourage the younger generation to think about this spectacular sport once again.

After this record-breaking season, the whole nation is praying for the young athlete to win the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal in the Track And Field event in the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics.