Punjab, Sept. 29 -- Vithya Ramraj ran 54.75 seconds in the women's 400m hurdles to take bronze - and to break a national record PT Usha had held for 42 years.
The record that stood since 1984
Usha set the mark at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, where she finished fourth in the final by one hundredth of a second - the closest an Indian woman has come to an Olympic track medal.
That time had survived four decades of Indian athletics. Successive generations got near it and did not pass it, and it became one of those records that functions as a ceiling rather than a target.
Ramraj has now run faster, in a continental final, for a personal best and a medal.
Why this event is the hard one
The 400m hurdles asks for sprint speed over a full...