Hima Das Biography: Indian sprinter Hima Das is a native of Assam. Das is a welcome respite in a nation bereft of sprinting talent. At the IAAF World U20 Championships, the 24-year-old became the first Indian athlete to ever win a gold medal in a track event. At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in Indonesia, Das set a new national record for India in the 400 meters with a time of 50.79 seconds. Hima achieved a remarkable feat earlier in 2019, when he won five straight international gold medals in just twenty days.
Hima Das Biography
Early Life
On January 9, Hima Das was born into a poor family in the Nagaon region of Assam, close to the village of Kandhulimari. Her parents, Ronjit and Jonali Das, are native to the Kaibarta tribe. To provide for the family, they are both farmers.
She completed her high school education at Dhing Public High School. Das would play football with the boys there since it piqued her curiosity. Hima was told to switch to sprinting, even though she wanted to keep playing football.
The young girl received the most important piece of information from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya teacher Shamshul Sheikh after he witnessed her amazing speed while playing football. History is what came next.
Early Success
Hima’s accomplishment is even more astounding because she has only recently begun wearing spikes. Hima, the oldest of the six siblings, first showed off his exceptional talent in 2016 during an inter-district competition.
She was forced to train on a muddy football field since there was no professional running track nearby.
Nevertheless, the tenacious sprinter captured a bronze medal at the state competition despite the dearth of equipment and training facilities. She qualified for the junior national 100-meter final later that year.
In the end, Das earned a spot in the Asian Youth Championships in Bangkok for the women’s 200-meter event. She proceeded to place seventh in the competition.
Fortunately, though, her timing of 24.52 seconds was good enough to earn her a spot in the Nairobi-hosted World Youth Championships. With an overall timing of 24.31 seconds, Das finally placed fifth there.
Rise of Hima Das
Following his early growth, Hima Das capitalized on his achievements to place highly at the April 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia.
She was racing in the 4×400-meter relay in addition to the 400-meter event. Das made it to the final in the former. She was forced to settle for sixth place, though, after finishing in 51.32 seconds.
Her timing was only 1.17 seconds faster than that of Amantle Montsho, the gold medallist from Botswana. Disappointingly, the Indian team could only finish eighth in the final of the 4 × 400 meters relay. The timing for them was 3 minutes, 33.61 seconds.
Then, on July 12, 2018, Das experienced her very first victory. Her first success occurred in the 400-meter final at the Tampere, Finland, 2018 World U-20 Championships. It had taken her 51.46 seconds to get to the top.
She had also become the first sprinter from India to win a gold medal in an international track competition. Her first half of the race was slower than the second. But in the final 100 meters, she picked up speed on time. Dramatically, Das emerged victorious in the competition, surpassing three opponents to claim the top spot.
Hima Das At Asian Games
The tale was similar at the 2018 Asian Games. Das broke the Indian national record in heat 1 with a time of 51.00, securing a spot in the 400-meter final. In the 400-meter final on August 26, 2018, she broke the national record with a time of 50.79 seconds.
What’s more, she took home the silver medal. After four days, Das penned the history alongside M. R. Poovamma, Sarita Gayakwad, and V. K. Vismaya. The team achieved victory in the women’s 4 × 400 meters relay with a remarkable time of 3:28.72.
Hima, who had earlier in the day not made it to the 200-meter race final, was well compensated for this. What had let her down in the semifinal at the time was a false start.
Hima finished the continental fiesta with a record-breaking haul, adding a silver medal in the 4×400 m mixed relay.
This mixed event was held in the Asian Games for the first time.
Hima Das & Adidas
In September, she went back home to find a surprise waiting for her. Hima Das secured an endorsement contract with sportswear giant Adidas India as a reward for her enormous achievement in Jakarta. The athlete would have access to the greatest Adidas gear available for his or her racing and athletic needs, the firm stated in a statement. In addition, she received a shoe that was manufactured to order.
Further Accolades
On September 25, 2018, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, President Shri Ram Nath Kovind presented Hima Das, then just eighteen years old, with the Arjuna Award for achievement in athletics during a dazzling event.
She was also named as the state’s sports brand ambassador by the Assamese government. She was also appointed as the Assam Police’s DSP in 2021.
The sprinter who won the gold medal in the Asian Games was named India’s first-ever young ambassador by UNICEF India later that year.
The 5 medal-milestone
Hima Das’s back discomfort got worse at the beginning of 2019 and made things worse. It is acknowledged that she experienced back pain following the Asian victory. Nevertheless, poor handling by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) officials contributed to the injury’s development.
Hima was sidelined for the majority of 2019 until making a triumphant comeback on July 2 at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland, where he took home the gold medal. Five days later, at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland, she equaled it with another gold. In the next twenty days, the sprinter set a new record by winning three additional yellow metals. Hima responded with another first-place finish in August at the Athleticky Mitink Reiter competition in the Czech Republic.
Hima Das Family
Hima Das was born into a mixed family of seventeen in the Assamese village of Kandhulimari, close to Dhing, to parents Jonali and Ranjit Das. Her parents are from the native Kaibarta people. To provide for the family, they are both farmers.
Ranjit didn’t see any reason to stop Hima from pursuing sprinting because he was a quick runner himself. He claimed to have witnessed “genuine passion” in Hima. But Jonali was the one who had some doubts about her choice to run. This made sense because Hima’s job required her to travel alone, often to remote locations.
Hima Das DSP Assam Police
The famous sprinter was inducted as a Deputy Superintendent of Assam Police on February 26, 2021. Sarbananda Sonowal, the chief minister of Assam, gave her the letter of appointment. The session was attended by high-ranking officials from the state government and the police force, including the director general of police.
