Vithya Ramraj breaks PT Usha’s 42-year-old record with Asian Games bronze

Vithya Ramraj won bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, September 28, 2026, but her finishing place told only part of the story. The Indian hurdler crossed the line in 54.75 seconds, breaking a national record that had stood for 42 years.

PT Usha set the previous mark of 55.42 seconds at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Ramraj had matched it in a heat at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, sharing the record without moving past it. This time, she improved on that mark by 0.67 seconds. Her run was also her first under 55 seconds.

A fast final in Nagoya

Ramraj finished third behind Mariam Kareem of the United Arab Emirates, who won gold in a Games-record 54.31 seconds, and Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems, who took silver in 54.58. The three medalists were separated by less than half a second.

Another Indian finalist, Anu Raghavan, placed fifth in 55.88 seconds. For Ramraj, the bronze was her second consecutive Asian Games medal in the event: she also finished third in the 2023 Hangzhou final, when she ran 55.68 seconds.

That earlier Games had left an unusual milestone in reach. Ramraj equalled Usha’s record in the heats on October 2, 2023, then ran slower in the final the following day. She had shown she could reach one of Indian athletics’ most enduring marks, but she still needed a faster race to make the record hers alone. The Nagoya final supplied it, along with a place on the podium.

From a near miss to a new benchmark

Usha’s 55.42-second run had long carried significance beyond the record book. At the Los Angeles Olympics, she finished fourth in the women’s 400m hurdles, missing bronze by just 0.01 seconds. The performance nevertheless established an Indian standard that remained unbeaten through generations of hurdlers.

Ramraj’s result changes that benchmark to 54.75 seconds. It is a record-breaking time even though two competitors finished ahead of her, a reminder of how quick the Nagoya final was. The bronze recognizes her position in the race; the national record measures how far she moved the event forward for India.

Her reaction made clear which part of the result struck her first. After seeing the time, Ramraj smiled and celebrated with a dance. Speaking after the race, she said she had focused on running a fast time rather than thinking only about a medal. She was delighted to have reached the 54-second range her coach had encouraged her to target.

Ramraj also described the pressure that followed her record-equalling run in Hangzhou. Having matched Usha’s time in 2023, she knew people were waiting to see whether she could go quicker. In Nagoya, she finally delivered the improvement she had been chasing.

Usha welcomed the achievement, saying it was special to see a younger athlete go beyond a mark she had set. Her response gave the moment an added connection: one Indian hurdler’s Olympic performance had defined the national standard since 1984, and another had now raised it on the Asian Games stage.

Ramraj leaves the final with both a medal and an outright record. The bronze will stand as the result of one race on September 28; her 54.75 seconds gives the next generation of Indian 400m hurdlers a new time to pursue.