Who is Vithya Ramraj? She is the 28-year-old 400m hurdler from Coimbatore who broke PT Usha’s 42-year-old national record at the Asian Games 2026. Vithya Ramraj ran 54.75 seconds in Nagoya to win bronze, and at the same Games she won women’s 4x400m relay gold and mixed 4x400m relay silver.
Yet she grew up as a truck driver’s daughter, and her twin sister once paid for her training. This page therefore tells her whole story so far: her medals, her personal bests, her 2026 season race by race, and her life away from the track.
Vithya Ramraj at a glance
- Born: 20 September 1998, Coimbatore
- Age: 28
- State: Tamil Nadu
- Events: 400m hurdles, 400m and the 4x400m relays
- Personal bests: 400m hurdles 54.75 (national record), 400m 51.96
- Asian Games 2026: gold in the women’s 4x400m relay, silver in the mixed 4x400m relay, bronze in the 400m hurdles
- Job: Indian Railways
- Off the track: trains in Chennai under coach Nehpal Singh Rathore; her twin sister Nithya is a 100m hurdler
Jump to: Who is she Hurdles record Relay medals 2026 season Personal bests Her story Beyond the track
Who is Vithya Ramraj? The short answer
Vithya Ramraj is an Indian 400m hurdler and quarter-miler from Tamil Nadu. She was born in Coimbatore on 20 September 1998, according to World Athletics, and she races the 400m hurdles, the 400m and both 4x400m relays.
She first matched PT Usha’s national record of 55.42 at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, where she also won bronze. Then, three years later in Nagoya, she finally broke it. As a result, World Athletics now lists her with one Asian Games gold, three silvers and two bronzes.
Asian Games 2026: 400m hurdles bronze and a 42-year-old record
The heats took place on Sunday 27 September, and the final followed on Monday 28 September at Nagoya’s Mizuho Park stadium. In the final, Vithya ran 54.75 seconds to win bronze. That cut 0.67 seconds off the 55.42 that Usha set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The UAE’s 18-year-old Mariam Kareem won gold in a Games record of 54.31, while Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems took silver in a personal best of 54.58. Meanwhile, India’s Anu Raghavan also ran a personal best of 55.88 to finish fifth, Outlook reported.
| Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mariam Kareem | UAE | 54.31 (Games record) |
| 2 | Adelina Zems | Kazakhstan | 54.58 |
| 3 | Vithya Ramraj | India | 54.75 (national record) |
| 4 | Kong Yingying | China | 55.78 |
| 5 | Anu Raghavan | India | 55.88 |
The bronze was also her second Asian Games medal in a row in the event, after Hangzhou. In addition, Usha herself, now the president of the Indian Olympic Association, was at the Games to see her record fall. Full results from Nagoya are on our Asian Games 2026 hub.
Relay gold and silver: a medal of every colour
Her Games began with the mixed 4x400m relay final on 24 September. India brought Vithya and Vishal T.K. into the team for the final, alongside Manu T.S. and M.R. Poovamma. Then her strong last leg moved India into second, and the team won silver in 3:14.46 behind Bahrain’s Games record of 3:12.87.
Five days later, she anchored the women’s 4x400m relay with Kiran Pahal, M.R. Poovamma and Prachi. On the last lap she passed China and held off Bahrain, so India won gold in 3:29.69. It was India’s first athletics gold of the Games.
| Event | Medal | India’s time | Nearest rival |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed 4x400m (24 Sep) | Silver | 3:14.46 | Bahrain, gold, 3:12.87 (Games record) |
| Women’s 4x400m (29 Sep) | Gold | 3:29.69 | Bahrain, silver, 3:30.21 |
Vithya Ramraj’s 2026 season, race by race
Her year started over the flat 400m in March. After that, she doubled up at the Federation Cup in May, won the national hurdles title in June and ran a 400m best of 51.96 in August. Finally, she peaked for Nagoya in September.
| When | Meet | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 March | Indian Open 400m, Trivandrum | 400m | 53.31, won |
| 4 April | Indian Athletics Series-1, Bengaluru | 400m hurdles | 57.10, won |
| 12 April | Indian Athletics Series-4, Ranchi | 400m hurdles | 57.02, won |
| 23 May | Federation Cup, Ranchi | 400m | 52.22, gold, a personal best then |
| 25 May | Federation Cup, Ranchi | 400m hurdles | 56.61, gold |
| June | Inter-State Championships heats, Bhubaneswar | 400m hurdles | 56.61, fastest qualifier |
| June | Inter-State Championships final, Bhubaneswar | 400m hurdles | 56.07, national title |
| 22 August | World Athletics Continental Tour Silver, Bhubaneswar | 400m | 51.96, won, personal best |
| 24 September | Asian Games, Nagoya | Mixed 4x400m relay | 3:14.46, silver |
| 28 September | Asian Games final, Nagoya | 400m hurdles | 54.75, national record, bronze |
| 29 September | Asian Games, Nagoya | Women’s 4x400m relay | 3:29.69, gold |
Her Ranchi double was one of the stories of the Federation Cup. However, neither time met the Commonwealth Games standards of 51.36 in the 400m and 54.67 in the 400m hurdles. Every Federation Cup result is on our Federation Cup 2026 page.
Download PDF: Federation Cup 2026 women’s 400m final
Who is Vithya Ramraj at her best? Personal bests
Both of her individual bests came in 2026. The marks below are from her World Athletics profile and our race reports.
| Event | Time | Where | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400m hurdles | 54.75 NR | Asian Games, Mizuho Park, Nagoya | 28 September 2026 |
| 400m | 51.96 | Continental Tour Silver, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar | 22 August 2026 |
| 4x400m relay (team) | 3:27.85 | Asian Games, Hangzhou | 4 October 2023 |
Her 54.75 made her the first Indian woman to run faster than 55.42 in the 400m hurdles. Meanwhile, her 51.96 improved on the 52.22 she ran at the Federation Cup only three months earlier. The latest Indian marks are on our women’s 400m hurdles page.
Who is Vithya Ramraj’s coach? From Coimbatore to Chennai
Vithya grew up in Coimbatore with her twin sister Nithya and an elder sister. Her father, Ramraj, worked as a truck driver, and money was tight, so the twins went to a government-aided school. They began by winning district-level races, and their results later earned them government jobs, DT Next reported.
Later, she moved to Chennai to train under coach Nehpal Singh Rathore outside the national camp. During that time, Nithya used her Income Tax Department salary to help pay for Vithya’s training, until Vithya found a job with Indian Railways.
Her breakthrough came in 2023. She ran 55.43 at the Indian Grand Prix in Chandigarh, just 0.01 outside Usha’s record. Then, at Hangzhou, she equalled the 55.42 in the heats and won bronze in the final. After that, she ran in India’s women’s 4x400m relay at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and in 2025 she took 400m hurdles bronze in 56.46 at the Asian Championships in Gumi.
Who is Vithya Ramraj beyond the track? Railways, her twin and her father
Off the track, Vithya works for Indian Railways, and she has raced in Railways colours at domestic meets. Her identical twin, Nithya, is a 100m hurdler with a best of 13.04. However, Nithya broke her ankle at a meet in Bhubaneswar in 2025 and missed Nagoya after another injury in training.
The family story also runs through her success. Vithya has said one of her proudest moments was asking her father to stop driving trucks. After Nagoya, her father said the medals were the reward for three years of steady training.
Follow Vithya Ramraj on Athletics India
Her full stats and results are on Vithya Ramraj’s athlete profile. In addition, all women’s hurdles news is in our women’s hurdles section.
Read next
- Vithya Ramraj smashes PT Usha’s 42-year-old record to win Asian Games bronze
- Vithya Ramraj anchors India to women’s 4x400m relay gold in Nagoya
- Two changes, one silver: India’s mixed 4x400m relay
- Vithya Ramraj claims double gold at the Federation Cup 2026
- Vithya Ramraj wins 400m gold in 51.96 in Bhubaneswar