For years, Indian men’s sprinting moved in painfully small increments. Between 2005 and 2020, the national record in the men’s 100m was broken only twice. Anil Kumar Prakash clocked 10.30 seconds in 2005 before Amiya Kumar Mallick lowered it to 10.26 in 2016. Those numbers stood not just as records, but as reminders of how difficult it was for Indian sprinting to evolve at the elite level. But over the last year, Indian sprinting has accelerated at a pace the sport in the country had never experienced before. And nowhere was that transformation more visible than at the Federation Cup in Ranchi. Within the span of a few hours, the national record changed hands three times. Gurindervir Singh first ran 10.17 seconds in the semifinals before Animesh Kujur responded almost immediately with 10.15. Then, in the final, Gurindervir returned to produce the race that changed Indian sprinting forever, 10.09 seconds, the first time an Indian man had broken the 10.10 barrier. The progression itself tells the story. From 10.30 to 10.20, Indian sprinting took nearly …