Who Is the Fastest Man in India? Gurindervir Singh’s 10.09s Record

Who is the fastest man in India? It is Gurindervir Singh, a 25-year-old sprinter from Punjab who holds the men’s 100m national record of 10.09 seconds. He set it at the Federation Cup in Ranchi on 23 May 2026 and became the first Indian to run under 10.10. Animesh Kujur is a close second with 10.14, run in Germany in July 2026.

Yet the record changed hands three times in less than 24 hours before Gurindervir settled it. Between them, he and Animesh now own India’s five fastest 100m times. This page therefore ranks India’s top 100m sprinters of 2026, explains how the record fell, and logs every key race of the season.

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Who is the fastest man in India? The short answer

Gurindervir Singh is the fastest man in India over 100m. According to World Athletics, he holds national records in the 100m (10.09), the indoor 60m (6.60) and the men’s 4x100m relay (38.69). He is a petty officer in the Indian Navy.

His 2026 season was the best yet by an Indian sprinter. He opened with the indoor 60m record in March, ran 10.09 in May and helped India to a mixed relay bronze at the Asian Games in September. However, he did not reach the individual 100m final at either the Commonwealth Games or the Asian Games.

 Gurindervir Singh’s 10.09 in Ranchi made him the first Indian to break 10.10 in the 100m.

How the 100m national record fell three times in Ranchi

The 29th National Senior Athletics Federation Competition at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Stadium doubled as the trial for both multi-sport Games. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) set the 100m entry standard at 10.16, faster than the national record at the time, as Olympics.com reported.

In the first semi-final on Friday 22 May, Gurindervir ran 10.17 to beat Animesh Kujur’s 10.18 from 2025. Minutes later, Animesh won the second semi-final in 10.15 to take the record back. “It’s all about hard work,” he said, AFI reported.

The final followed on Saturday 23 May. Gurindervir won in 10.09 with a legal tailwind of 0.3 m/s, according to the official AFI result sheet. Animesh finished second in 10.20, a margin of 0.11. Pranav Gurav took bronze in 10.29. Afterwards, Gurindervir said the record proved he was “not finished”, UNI reported.

Top Indian 100m sprinters: personal bests and 2026 bests

The table ranks India’s leading active 100m sprinters by personal best. Marks come from World Athletics profiles and AFI result sheets. All marks listed are legal; none is wind-assisted.

Only two Indians have run faster than 10.18. In fact, no Indian broke 10.20 until July 2025. Gurindervir’s 10.09 also leaves him 0.19 slower than the 9.90 that won Asian Games gold in September.

India’s top 100m sprinters in 2026: profiles

1. Gurindervir Singh (10.09). The national record holder turned 25 in December 2025. He first broke the record with 10.20 at the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru on 28 March 2025. In 2026, he also set the indoor 60m record of 6.60 in Bhubaneswar on 25 March.

2. Animesh Kujur (10.14). The 23-year-old runs for Odisha and also holds the 200m national record of 20.32. He ran 10.14 to finish second at the PUMA Fast Arms Fast Legs meet in Wetzlar, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event. It is the fastest 100m by an Indian on foreign soil, The Bridge reported. He also won the national Inter-State title in 10.28.

3. Manikanta Hoblidhar(10.19). The 24-year-old Army sprinter from Udupi, Karnataka, held the national record from October 2023 until March 2025. He ran his best of 10.19 at the 2025 National Open. Then, after months of rehab that began in April 2026, he won the 2026 National Open in Delhi in 10.25, Telangana Today reported.

4. Pranav Pramod(10.27). The 25-year-old from Daund near Pune won the 2025 Federation Cup in Kochi in 10.27, ahead of Animesh. In 2026, he took bronze at the Federation Cup in 10.29 and silver at the Inter-State Championships in 10.39.

5. Lalu Prashad Bhoi and Vibhaskar Kumar. Lalu Prasad Bhoi, 23, won indoor 60m silver in 6.65 and 100m silver at the National Open in 10.43. Similarly, Bihar’s Vibhaskar Kumar, 22, placed fourth in the Federation Cup final in 10.39.

India’s 100m national record: the road to 10.09

Amiya Kumar Mallick’s 10.26 from 2016 stood for seven years. Since October 2023, the record has fallen six times, and it has dropped by 0.17 in total.

Each time above 10.09 was a national record then. In the same Bengaluru race in March 2025, Manikanta also ran 10.22, but finished behind Gurindervir. Meanwhile, Animesh’s 10.18 in Greece made him the first Indian under 10.20.

How India’s fastest men fared at the CWG and Asian Games

At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Gurindervir ran 10.39 in his heat on 27 July. He finished second behind Jamaica’s Rohan Watson (10.13) but placed 28th of 73 overall. A time of 10.24 was needed for the semi-finals, WION reported. Animesh ran only the 200m there, clocking 20.46 in the heats and 20.65 in the semi-finals.

At the Asian Games in Nagoya, both men reached the semi-finals on 24 September. Animesh was third in heat 1 in 10.36, while Gurindervir was second in heat 4 in 10.38. The next day, Gurindervir ran 10.32 for fifth in semi-final 2. Animesh was seventh in semi-final 3 in 10.38.

Thailand’s Puripol Boonson then won the final in a Games record of 9.90, according to World Athletics. He had already run 9.91 in his semi-final.

India’s medal came in the relay instead. On 29 September, Gurindervir, Sneha Shanuvalli, Animesh and Harita Bhadra won mixed 4x100m bronze in 41.06. It beat the national record of 41.35 set at the World Relays in Gaborone earlier in 2026.

India’s 2026 men’s sprint season, race by race

The national 100m record dropped from 10.18 to 10.09 in two days in May. Then the fastest time by an Indian abroad fell from 10.18 to 10.14 in July. The log below lists the key races in date order.

From Jalandhar and Jashpur to Nagoya: their story

Gurindervir Singh trained in Jalandhar for around 12 to 13 years before reaching the top, his early coach Happy told UNI. About three years before his record, a serious digestive illness kept him out for nearly a year, according to reports after his record run. He now trains under James Hillier at the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre.

Animesh Kujur was born on 2 June 2003 in Ghuitangar, a village in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district. Both his parents are police officers. Football was his first sport, as The Bridge reported, and he played until his late teens.

Then, during the COVID-19 lockdown, he entered a local meet without a coach or spikes. Coach Martin Owens later invited him to the Reliance Foundation centre in Bhubaneswar. As a result, Animesh and Gurindervir now train in the same system, and their rivalry has pushed the record down from 10.20 to 10.09 in 14 months.

Who is the fastest woman in India?

Dutee Chand holds the women’s 100m national record of 11.17, set at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala in 2021, according to Olympics.com. In 2026, Harita Bhadra won the national indoor 60m in 7.32, and Nithya Gandhe won the Indian Athletics Series 3 100m in 11.59.

Follow India’s fastest men on Athletics India

Track every race on the Gurindervir Singh profile page and the Animesh Kujur profile page. For heats, line-ups and finals, see our athletics results page.