CWG 2026: National record-holder Gurindervir Singh suffers shock 100m heats exit

India’s men’s 100m campaign suffered an early blow at the 2026 Commonwealth Games after national record-holder Gurindervir Singh failed to progress beyond the heats on the opening day of the athletics competition.

Competing in his maiden Commonwealth Games, the 25-year-old clocked 10.39 seconds to finish second behind Jamaica’s Rohan Watson (10.13s) in Heat 4. However, the time was not enough to secure one of the 17 semi-final spots.

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Gurindervir Singh clocks 10.39s to finish second in his Men’s 100m heat. 👏

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Across the 11 heats, Gurindervir finished 28th among 73 athletes. A time of 10.24 seconds was required to qualify, leaving the Indian sprinter 0.15 seconds short of extending his campaign.

Running from lane five, Gurindervir matched Watson through the opening stages before the Jamaican, who owns a personal best of 9.91 seconds, pulled away over the closing metres. The race was run with a legal tailwind of 1.9 m/s.

National record not enough on CWG debut

The result came as a surprise given Gurindervir’s form heading into Glasgow.

In May, the Punjab sprinter became the first Indian man to run below 10.10 seconds when he clocked a national record 10.09 seconds at the Federation Cup in Ranchi. He had earlier broken the national record with 10.17 seconds in the semi-finals before lowering it further in the final, eclipsing Animesh Kujur’s previous mark of 10.18 seconds.

Those performances had established Gurindervir as one of India’s brightest medal hopes in the men’s 100m. However, he was unable to reproduce that form on the biggest stage, bringing his Commonwealth Games debut to an early end.