PB & SB on Jayaram radar as he gears for U20 Worlds debut

KOLKATA: Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram couldn’t keep calm when he saw Noah Lyles win the 100m sprint at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. Like millions of sports lovers around the world, he too was thrilled by the way the US sprinter bagged the coveted prize in what was a race for the ages.
But on Tuesday Jayaram will have to calm himself down and be focused since it will be him who will be taking to the track at the U20 World Athletics Championships in Lima for the heats of the 100m and there will be many who will be cheering him on from India.
One among them will be his coach Rohit Mane, who has been training him since the end of 2022 at Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre (HPC) at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
“I want to see PB and SB written in front of his name. We always think about medals, but these small things help to motivate the athletes. Secondly, I ardently hope he can make it out of the first round and into the semifinals,” said Mane during a telephonic interview with TOI.
At present, Jayaram’s PB is 10.51 seconds which he ran last year during the 37th National Games in Bambolim and at the 26th National Federation Cup in Ranchi. He also has a timing of 10.40 seconds, which helped him win bronze at the Federation Cup in Ranchi, but it’s not legal because ‘no wind information’ was available.
Despite that, his timing is still among the fifth best in the country in the U20 age group despite being nowhere near the world’s best. Naturally, it’s not going to be easy for him in Lima and Mane knows it, but the coach is more than pleased with the fact that someone from the country has at least qualified for the 100m.
Jayarm, meanwhile, was part of the 4x100m relay teams that won bronze in the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in both 2023 and 2024, and he is taking a lot of confidence from those wins.
“I trained well for those tournaments, and we won the medals. Even this time I have worked hard, and I believe I will be able to achieve the desired results,” added the Odisha athlete, who was born in Andhra Pradesh but has grown up in various parts of Odisha since his parents have transferable jobs.
One hopes he will be able to do that and make everybody proud.
The 19-year-old after all has been impressive and won numerous medals in both 100m and 200m in junior as well as senior national meets since the time Mane took him under his wings after watching him at a state meet two years back.
Asked what made Jayaram stand out among the rest, Mane said, “I liked his natural running style. He already had it in him and was running very well despite not having any proper training. His body stature also looked good but obviously, he wasn’t technically sound.”
Things have indeed improved since then, but Jayaram knows he will have to work a lot more in the coming days to succeed in international events.
“Final 50m is my strength but I will have to work on my opening 50m and it’s something that my coaches also keep telling me,” said the youngster, who has grown up watching Odisha athlete Amiya Kumar Mallick and still tries to learn as much as possible from him.
The good thing is he is not alone. Apart from Mane, the Odisha government, and the other coaches at HPC are giving him all the support he needs to reach full potential.
Most importantly, he has Mahendra Santa, who also trains under Mane and was part of the relay team that won bronze in the Asian meet this year, to encourage him and push him along the way. It’s something that Mane believes will help both athletes in the coming days.