Jinson Johnson retires at 34

KOCHI: National 1500m record holder and Asian Games gold medallist Jinson Johnson announced his retirement on Wednesday. The 34-year-old, from Chakkittapara in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, has not competed since winning a bronze in 1500m at the Hangzhou Asian Games in Oct 2023. His career highlight was the 1500m gold (3:44.72sec) at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. He also won 800m silver at the Asiad.“I’ve been thinking about retirement for a while,” Johnson said. “With Asian Games approaching, I don’t want to put myself under pressure. My current training times are good enough to win medals at national events, but people expect a certain standard from me, and I don’t want to fall short,” said Johnson. He plans to move into coaching. “I’m happy to help youngsters in whatever way I can,” he said.