Unnathi takes big strides on track

Bengaluru: With five events in a span of six months, this has been the most demanding of seasons in the young career of Unnathi Aiyappa. 

The sprinter was well-prepared for what was to come. And now, after tasting the emotional and physical roller-coaster ride of elite sport, she has been left exhausted but is content to have made the big strides. 

“I knew this was going to be a very busy year and also the most crucial one. I had to be on my feet since January. But I have enjoyed the ride,” the 19-year-old tells DH while taking a moment to assess all the medals and misses that have come her way this year. 

After having finished third on the podium in 100m hurdles at the 21st Asian U-20 Junior Championships in Dubai (in April), Unnathi finished with two golds (100m hurdles and 200m) with as many meet records at the recently-concluded 4th South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Chennai. 

In between, she clinched the 200m gold at the National Federation Cup Athletics Competition, Bhubaneshwar (in May), picked up two more top-of-the-podium places (200m and 100m hurdles) at the Karnataka State Senior Men’s and Women’s Athletics Championships (in early August) before flying to Lima, Peru for the World Athletics U20 Championships. 

Though the athlete fell short of her own expectations in Lima, it was the way she managed to get back to winning ways in Chennai with a mere five-day gap between the two competitions that she is most proud of.  “The 40-hour flight each to Lima and back and the cold weather conditions there took a toll on me. My body was dead, but I ran the races in Chennai keeping my mind strong. 

“The first two days after coming back (from Lima) I slept the whole time and only warmed-up on the third day and went back to sleep,” says the daughter of former Indian quartermiler BP Aiyappa and two-time Olympic heptathlete Pramila Aiyappa. 

Hitting the snooze button sure did the trick as Unnathi clocked 13.93s in the 100m hurdles and 23.91s in 200m en route to golds with new marks on back-to-back days. In all of her multiple races and podium finishes this year, the sprinter gave herself full marks for the way she has managed to be consistent in terms of time in both the events. 

“Last year, I was timing around 14.1-14.2 seconds in the 100m hurdles. Whereas this year, once I breached the 14sec-mark, I kept crossing the line within the 13.8-13.9 sec zone. Similarly, in the 200m races, I could maintain the time inside the 24-second zone. That gives me a lot of confidence going into the next year,” says the Kodava girl who is a student of journalism in Reva University here in Bengaluru.   

Speaking of next year, the athlete - who believes she is in a transitional period - says that she would completely switch to 400m hurdles from 2025. It is a challenge the family filled with track and field athletes are eager to take on. 

“She is a multi-event athlete. But as a coach, I felt 400m hurdles will suit her the best as Indians are traditionally good in the quartermile races. She is tall, has good stride length, speed and strength. We need to work a lot on endurance,” says her father Aiyappa.

“Yes, it is a bit of a gamble. But I hope she will do well,” he adds.

But before the bigger events, shorter time targets or tougher training sessions begin, Unnathi says she is taking a much-needed break to recover, reset and resume to conquer newer frontiers even as father-coach notes: “No! No extra rest days than required...”