Sprint hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya finally clocked the much-needed time of 13.47s in the US on Thursday night, a time that would have taken him to the Rio Olympics.
But, unfortunately, the elements were against him.
The 25-year-old from Mumbai won the men’s 110m hurdles gold at the Redlands Final Qualifying Athletics Meet in California in 13.47s, but, sadly, it was wind-assisted, with a tail wind of 2.1, slightly above the legal limit of two metres per second.
That means the timing will not be accepted for Olympic qualification or as the National record.
“There but not there… as I said before, I’m back on it,” posted Siddhanth on his Facebook page.
“Clocked 13.47s (2.1 wind), hit the sixth hurdle badly and almost lost the balance but got back into the race.”
Americans Ross Blanchard (13.91) and Afari La-Anyane (14.68) won the silver and bronze.
The ONGC star had broken his own National record a few days ago with a 13.59s timing in the US.
