Portland (USA): India’s middle and long-distance runner Ankita Dhyani clocked a personal best time to finish second in the women’s 1500m race at the Stumptown Twilight event here.
The 24-year-old Ankita clocked 4:06.75s in the World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger level meet (Category D) on Saturday. She improved upon her previous personal best by more than five seconds.
Her previous personal best was 4:12.28s.
This remarkable performance marks the fastest time for an Indian in the 1500m distance so far this season and ranks as the third fastest in Asia. Furthermore, Ankita’s time is the fourth fastest ever recorded by an Indian athlete in this event.
The current national record for the 1500m is held by KM Deeksha with a time of 4:04.78s. In the same race, Carmen Alder Caisalitin of Ecuador secured the top spot with a time of 4:06.40s, while Eleanor Fulton of USA finished third with 4:09.36s.
Ankita Dhyani has a strong track record, including a 5000m bronze medal at the 2023 Asian Championships and a 3000m silver at the 2024 Asian Indoor Championships. She has also represented India in the 5,000m race at both the 2022 Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Recently, she finished second behind Parul Chaudhary in the 1500m race at the National Inter-State Championships in June.
Additionally, she won the 3000m steeplechase event with a time of 9:44.05s, which is better than the 2026 Asian Games qualification time of 9:47.53s set by the Athletics Federation of India.
