Paris Olympics: Inside the Grueling, Lonely Grind of Trailblazing Hurdler Jyothi Yarraji

The Journey to the Paris Olympics

Jyothi Yarraji, the first Indian hurdler to qualify for the Olympics in the 100m hurdles, knows the grind like no one else. After years of relentless toil to shave off mere fractions of a second, Yarraji is now on a mission to trim microseconds from her personal best in hopes of securing a spot in the Paris Olympics final.

Racing Against the Clock

In the quiet corners of Navi Mumbai, Jyothi’s days are defined by the ticking of a stopwatch. On an excruciatingly hot April morning, it’s just Jyothi versus the clock, with her coach, James Hillier, by her side. The goal? To cut her personal best time of 12.78 seconds down to 12.5 seconds. “If she runs that in the semifinal, she has a very good chance of making the Paris Olympics final,” says Hillier.

The Microsecond Battle

Hillier’s mission to shave off milliseconds is painstaking. He breaks down a 12.5-second race into its tiniest components: staying lower over the hurdles, minimizing foot contact with the ground, clocking under one second between hurdles, and achieving close to two seconds from the starting block to the first hurdle.

One significant change they’ve implemented is reducing the number of steps Jyothi takes from the starting blocks to the first hurdle, from eight steps to seven. “It’s like rewiring the brain,” Jyothi explains. “I had been competing and training like this for 10 years. Imagine doing everything with your right hand and suddenly shifting to the left.”

Setting Up for Success

The reduction in steps isn’t just about speed; it’s about setting up for the second hurdle better. Jyothi’s long legs previously caused her to brake as she approached the first hurdle. Now, she accelerates through it, maintaining momentum for the second hurdle. “It’s definitely helping,” Hillier says. “Whether that translates into a faster time, we don’t know.”

Training Techniques and Timings

Even after recovering from a hamstring injury, Jyothi is pushing herself to the limit. On one training day in April, she had four runs with 12 hurdles each, two more than usual, to simulate tougher race conditions. Her times were consistently around 13.8 seconds until the final run, where she clocked 13.6 seconds, demonstrating the importance of technique even when fatigued.

Hillier’s focus is on the “rhythmic units” — the time between hurdles. “If she’s going from hurdle 2 to 3 (and so on) under 1 second, we know she’s in 12.5 shape,” he says. To achieve this, they use lower hurdles with foam pads on top, allowing Jyothi to attack aggressively without risking injury.

The Road Ahead

Jyothi’s training is a complex web of minute adjustments and rigorous practice. Hillier admits there are no guarantees, but he’s confident in her potential. “It’s like millions and millions of minute steps all the time. Then you put it all together and hope she’s good enough physically, mentally; hopefully, I am good enough as a coach to prepare her to peak at the right time when she goes into the Olympics,” he says. “I can’t promise you she’ll do it. But she’s capable of it.”

Follow Jyothi Yarraji’s inspiring journey as she pushes the boundaries to make history at the Paris Olympics.