As the hammer soared through the Bhubaneswar sky and landed beyond the national record mark, 18-year-old Anushka Yadav raised her arms in celebration. Moments later, the significance of her achievement began to sink in. Not only had she broken one of India’s longest-standing athletics records, but she had also fulfilled a dream that began long before she was born.
Standing beside the throwing arena at the Kalinga Stadium during the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships was her father, Sushil Yadav, a former hammer throw enthusiast whose own athletic ambitions were cut short by circumstances beyond his control. On Wednesday, he watched his daughter accomplish what he once hoped to achieve himself.
Anushka produced a sensational performance in the women’s hammer throw competition, rewriting the national record books twice in a single evening. The teenager first surpassed Sarita Singh’s nine-year-old national record of 65.25 metres with a throw of 65.64m in her second attempt. If there were any doubts about the legitimacy of that mark, she erased them with her final throw of the competition, sending the hammer to an astonishing 67.02m.
The performance established a new Indian national record and firmly announced Anushka as one of the country’s most exciting young athletics prospects.
At just under 18 years and two months of age, she became the youngest national record holder in Indian track and field. Her throw also comfortably exceeded the Athletics Federation of India’s Asian Games qualification standard of 61.72m, placing her in a strong position to represent India at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya later this year.
For many observers, the result may have appeared sudden. Those who have followed her journey, however, know it was years in the making.
Growing up in Balena village in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district, athletics was deeply woven into the local culture. The region has produced numerous national-level throwers and remains one of India’s strongest centres for hammer throw development.
“In our area, this event is really popular. There is an athletics ground at the Sri Krishna Inter College in our village where a lot of international and national athletes have trained. Girls train here as well, including Tanya Choudhary, who placed second at the Inter-State Championships behind Anushka,” says Sushil.
For Sushil, athletics represented an unfinished chapter in his own life. As a teenager, he showed promise in hammer throw before family responsibilities forced him to step away from the sport.
“I really enjoyed the hammer throw but I never got the chance to compete myself. Although I was working, I still wanted my children to become athletes,” he says.
Initially, it was not Anushka who was expected to carry forward that dream. Her father believed his son would become the family’s thrower, while his daughters focused on academics. Anushka herself began as a sprinter before discovering a passion for the hammer throw.
“Dad used to take my brother to train as a hammer thrower. But I insisted I wanted to be a hammer thrower as well and so he started to take me there,” she says.
Learning the hammer throw is a demanding process that requires patience, technical precision and years of repetition. Unlike running events, success is rarely immediate.
“It takes time to learn the technique. You have to do drills for nearly a year before you can even lift the hammer. And after, even if everything goes smoothly, it takes a year to throw properly. Slowly, you start increasing the weight of the hammer. You start out with a 1kg hammer and step by step you increase the weight you are throwing,” he says.
Yet from the beginning, Sushil sensed something special. “I saw her body activity and how quickly she picked up the drills and I knew she had the potential to be a really good thrower,” he says.
The results soon followed. In 2024, Anushka won gold at the Under-20 Federation Cup with a throw of 56.63m. Later that year, she represented India at the Asian Junior Championships. Her biggest breakthrough came at the National Games, where she stunned a field of experienced throwers to win gold with a personal best of 62.89m.
Her development has been supported by a close-knit coaching structure that extends beyond her father. “She’s not reached this level just because I have been coaching her. She has been supported by many different people. There are two senior throwers in the academy, Chirag Yadav and Gagan Yadav, who coach her along with me,” he says.
The arrangement reflects the realities of rural sporting life. “Kisaan aadmi hoon. Subah ko main khet me kaam karta hoon. I’m a farmer and I have to work the fields in the morning. In the morning, Anushka trains with Chirag and Gagan coach and in the evening, when I’m finished with my farm work, I take care of the second training session,” he says.
Life on the farm remains a significant part of Anushka’s routine. Earlier this year, that connection nearly derailed her season. “I was helping out in the sowing season and I was trying to connect the tiller to the tractor to prepare the field for sowing. While I was doing this, my brother, who was in the tractor, reversed. My foot got stuck in the machinery and I suffered a tear to the ligaments in my right knee,” she says.
The injury interrupted her training for several weeks. Despite the setback, her father remained confident that bigger throws were coming. “She finished second at the Junior Federation Cup with 58.02m and then threw 63m at the State Championships, so I knew that as her knee was recovering, she was throwing further. I knew the moment her knee was in the right place, she would get a really big throw,” he says.
Even after breaking the national record, Sushil believes his daughter is capable of much more.
“Hammer throw isn’t purely a game of power. This is a game of technique and right now Anushka’s technique is very strong. She’s made a throw of 71m in training and if her technique goes correctly, she can do that again,” he says. The Asian Games now loom as the next major target. With her current form already exceeding the bronze medal-winning distance from the most recent Asian Athletics Championships, expectations are rising.
But Anushka’s ambitions extend beyond medals. “I want to win the gold medal at the Asian Games and I want to throw 70m in a competition. Right now, everyone knows the javelin but very few people know about the hammer throw. I want people to know about the hammer throw the same way,” she says.
After rewriting the national record and becoming the youngest track and field record holder in the country, Anushka Yadav has already taken the first step toward making that dream a reality. The next chapter could unfold on one of Asia’s biggest sporting stages.
