Bhubaneswar: Once a delivery boy of Baragrh district of Odisha, Prateek Maharana delivered New Meet Record (NMR) in the men’s 200m U-20 race in the 40th National Junior Athletics Championships here at Kalinga Stadium on Monday.

Prateek with a lifetime best timing of 21.24 clinched the gold medal and shattered the old meet record timing of 21.26 sec. In the process he meet the qualification standard (21.25 sec) for 200m race of the 21st World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 will take place between 5-9 August 2026.

“I was started training under the guidance of Coach Siba Mishra in the grass field at the Baragrh Mini Stadium. In the year 2024 I had shifted to Rourkela city to practice in a proper synthetic track. Coach Siba sir made corrections in my techniques and today I got the results. While coming for this meet my old shoes were not in good condition, my coach presented me a new spike shoe with a lot of blessings”, said Prateek Maharana.

India’s fastest women sprinter Dutee Chand with her international experience also guided Prateek during training season at Rourkela. “It’s always a big learning experience for me to train alongside of Dutee Chand. She gave me a few tips on how to get initial start from the blocks and how to develop acceleration in the curves. I am happy to have won a gold medal in my favourite 200m race with a personal best timing 21.24 sec in my home State”, added Prateek.

Coach Siba Mishra said that “his medal is not unexpected, I am confident about his hard work and dedication during the training. I am extremely happy that he did it with an NMR and also qualified for the World Athletics U20 Championships. Prateek belongs to a very humble background, during the Covid pandemic I found him as a delivery boy in his home town to meet the basic needs of his family. I extended my support to him and told him to join the training after the pandemic”.