Truck driver’s daughter Vithya Ramraj overcame years of struggle to break PT Usha’s 42-year record
Her twin sister once helped pay for her training and expenses
Truck driver’s daughter Vithya Ramraj breaks PT Usha’s 42 year record
Vithya Ramraj has done what no Indian woman managed for 42 years.
The 27 year old clocked 54.75 seconds in the women’s 400m hurdles at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi Nagoya, winning bronze and breaking the legendary PT Usha’s Indian national record of 55.42 seconds set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
But there is a much bigger story behind those 54.75 seconds.
Vithya is the daughter of a truck driver, and there was a time when her family simply did not have the money required to support an athlete at the highest level.
Her father worked extra shifts to support the family
Vithya grew up in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) alongside her identical twin sister Nithya, who also became an athlete.
Their father worked as a truck driver and even took extra shifts to put food on the table.
Athletics was not initially part of some big plan for the sisters. A PE teacher spotted their potential and suggested sport. Their mother eventually enrolled them at a Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu hostel in Erode.
The hostel made a huge difference because the family could not afford all the expenses involved in pursuing athletics.
But getting into the system did not mean Vithya’s struggles were over.
She joined the national camp at NIS Patiala in 2018 but found things difficult. She struggled with the food and language and felt she needed more individual attention.
Then Covid and appendicitis surgery disrupted her preparations around the Tokyo Olympic trials. She eventually left the national camp and began training independently under coach Nehpal Singh Rathore.
That created another problem.
Without the national camp, Vithya had to pay for her own training, food and accommodation.
This is where her twin sister stepped in.
Nithya had secured a job with the Income Tax Department and used her salary to help pay for Vithya’s training until she was able to secure a job with Indian Railways.
She first chased PT Usha, then went past her
Then came the breakthrough.
At the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, Vithya reached PT Usha’s famous mark, with official accounts crediting her with 55.42 seconds in the heats. For the next three years, however, she could not get under 55 seconds.
People kept asking her when she was going to break the record.
In Nagoya, she finally gave them the answer.
Her coach told her to go for the timing rather than worry about the medal.
Vithya crossed the line in 54.75 seconds, taking 0.67 seconds off Usha’s longstanding national record and winning her second successive Asian Games bronze in the event.
Her reaction said everything. Once she realised what she had done, Vithya celebrated with a little dance on the track.
PT Usha loved seeing her record broken
There was another beautiful part to the story.
PT Usha was delighted to see the record finally fall.
She congratulated Vithya and said “records are meant to be broken”, adding that there was no greater reward for an athlete than seeing the next generation go beyond the boundaries set before them.
Perhaps the most satisfying part of Vithya’s journey, however, happened even before she broke Usha’s record.
By 2023, the two sisters were earning enough to support their family. Vithya said one of her proudest achievements was being able to ask her father to stop working as a truck driver.
She had also fulfilled another small dream.
She bought her mother a flight ticket so she could travel by plane for the first time.
The daughter of a man who worked extra shifts driving trucks to support his family is now the fastest Indian woman ever in the 400m hurdles.
For 42 years, the number to beat was 55.42.
Vithya Ramraj has changed it to 54.75.
