Muhammed Anas

He was born on 17 September 1994 in Nilamel. Anas took up athletics at the Style Sports Academy in Nilamel. He initially trained in the long jump, and changed to 400 m by chance, when his school team was looking for a last-minute replacement for a 400 m competition. His younger brother competed in the long jump at the 2017 World University Games.[1][2]

He studied at Sree Krishna College, which was affiliated to the Calicut University. He represented the university at the national level.[5]

Anas earlier broke the national 400 m record at the Polish Athletics Championships in June 2016, clocking 45.40 seconds, the exact qualification mark for the 2016 Olympics.[6] He became the third Indian athlete to qualify for this Olympic event, after Milkha Singh (1956 and 1960) and K. M. Binu (2004).[7]

In July 2016, Anas was part of the relay team that broke the national 4 × 400 metres record in Bangalore and qualified for the Rio Olympics. The quartet of Anas, Kunhu Muhammed, Ayyasamy Dharun and Arokia Rajiv clocked 3:00:91, improving their own record of 3:02.17 set four weeks earlier in Turkey. This result placed them 13th in the world ranking.[8]

At the 2018 Asian Games, Anas won three silver medals, in the individual 400 m, and men's 4×400 m and mixed 4×400 m relays.[9] At the 2018 Commonwealth Games he placed fourth in the 400 m, while his men's 4×400 m failed to finish.[1]