Bangladesh’s Imranur reaches semis alongside World’s fastest man

Bangladesh’s fastest man Imranur Rahman has reached the semifinal in the Men’s 60 metre event of the World Athletics Indoor Championship in Belgrade on Saturday.

Imranur finished the sprint in 6.64 seconds to become the third and final runner from the six-man Heat 5 to qualify for the next stage.

The current fastest man in the world, Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs, competed in the same Heat as Imran. Jacobs, who won gold in the Men’s 100m event in the Tokyo Olympics, unsurprisingly topped the chart, clocking 6.53s while Trinidad and Tobago’s Jerod Elcock came in second with a timing of 6.63s.

The current fastest man in South Asia, Maldives’ Hassan Saaid, also competed in Heat 5 but finished sixth with a timing of 6.87s.

Imranur, who lives in the United Kingdom, had earlier run in the Sutcliffe Indoor Championship in London to prepare for the competition where he had clocked 6.68s.

This is Imranur’s first participation in an international event for Bangladesh. This is also Bangladesh’s maiden participation in the World Athletics Indoor Championship.

Imranur burst onto the country’s athletics scene during the 45th National Athletics held in January this year. In his maiden appearance in the competition, the UK resident broke the 22-year-old national record in the 100m sprint, clocking 10.50s. The record earlier belonged to Mahbub Alam, who clocked 10.54s in 1999.

Imranur’s performance earned him a call up to the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Islamic Solidarity Games teams for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Athletic Federation’s general secretary Abdur Rakib expects big things from Imranur. “Imranur has made history in Bangladesh’s Athletics. His timing is also very good. We are hoping that he will win us medals in the SA Games and Asian Games.”