Jyothi Yarraji wins 100 hurdles gold in Holland, misses Olympic berth by 0.10 secs

Mumbai, May 10: Indian athlete Jyothi Yarraji won the women's 100m hurdles event at the Harry Schulting Games 2024 athletics meet in Vught, Netherlands on Thursday. However, she was unlucky to miss the qualification mark for the Paris Olympic Games by one-tenth of a second.

In her first event of the outdoor season in Europe, Asian Games silver medallist Jyothi clocked 12.87 seconds to win the gold medal, finishing ahead of Dutch hurdler Mira Groot, who ended second in 13.67 seconds with another Dutch runner Hanna van Baast who finished in 13.84 seconds.

In finishing first and clocking 12.87, Yarraji missed the entry standard for the Olympics, set at 12.77s, by o.10 seconds.

Earlier in the day, Jyothi had qualified for the final of the 100m hurdles by clocking 13.04 seconds.

This is the second time that Jyothi, who trains at the Reliance Foundation High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, after falling short of the qualifying mark by one-hundredth of a second when she set the national record of 12.78 for a bronze medal at the World University Games in Chengdu, China. Jyothi, who had done well in the Asian Indoor season earlier in the year, will be participating in five more events during the Olympic qualifying period which will end on June 30 this year.

Meanwhile, Indian male hurdler Tejas Shirse won the 110m hurdles in the same meet with a personal best timing of 13.56 seconds, finishing ahead of local Dutch athlete Joas van Hellemondt (13.80 secs) and Jamie Sesay (13.92 secs).

Amlan Borgohain, the national record holder in the men’s 200m, was also slated to compete in Vught on Thursday but did not turn up for the event.