Vithya Ramraj breaks P.T. Usha's long-standing national record to claim 400m hurdles bronze at the 2026 Asian Games

Key facts

• Vithya Ramraj won bronze in the women's 400m hurdles at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, clocking 54.75 seconds and breaking P.T. Usha's 42-year-old national record of 55.42 seconds.
• The UAE's Mariam Kareem won gold in a Games-record 54.31 seconds, while Kazakhstan's Adelina Zems took silver in 54.58 seconds.
• Vithya became the first Indian woman to break the 55-second barrier in the 400m hurdles, and her record ranks 12th on the all-time Asian list and 187th on the all-time world list.
• Vithya also anchored India to gold in the women's 4×400m relay and silver in the mixed 4×400m relay at the 2026 Asian Games, winning a medal of each colour.
• Vithya's 400m hurdles best improved from 59.7 seconds in 2018 to 54.75 in 2026, while her flat 400m best improved from 54.48 seconds in 2018 to 51.96 seconds in 2026.
• Vithya's coach Nehpal Singh Rathore trained her for both the 400m hurdles and the flat 400m, saying improvement in the flat event drives improvement in the hurdles.
• The world all-time list in the women's 400m hurdles is led by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (50.37), followed by Femke Bol (50.95) and Dalilah Muhammad (51.58).