‘I used to hitch rides on newspaper vans’: The making of India’s fastest 800m runner Mohammed Afsal

There was a time when Mohammed Afsal’s day began long before sunrise.

At 3 am, while most of Kerala was still asleep, a Class 10 student from Palakkad would quietly leave home and wait for newspaper distribution vehicles passing through his village.

After travelling nearly 22 kilometres, he would reach the training ground well before practice began.

“I used to sleep there for a while before training started,” Afsal tells Read, smiling at the memory.

More than a decade later, that teenager has become India’s fastest-ever men’s 800m runner.

An Asian Games silver medallist, the 800m national record holder with a timing of 1:44.93, Afsal’s rise has been built on resilience as much as talent.

Ironically, athletics was never the dream.

Football was always the first love

Before he discovered the track, Afsal’s world revolved around football.

“I actually started out playing football. I wasn’t a great player or anything,” he says. “My father and I used to go to a nearby college ground every morning. People from the neighbourhood would come there too, and even though I was only around 12 years old, I used to play with the seniors.”

A fracture changed the course of his sporting life.

“One day, my father fractured his leg while playing,” Afsal recalls. “After that, he became worried about me getting injured and didn’t want me playing football anymore.”

It was around the same time that he noticed a regular runner at the ground.

“There was a man who came there every morning for his run, and I started running with him,” he says. “But football was always my first love.”

Even then, athletics didn’t immediately capture his imagination.

After moving from a CBSE school to Parali High School under coach Manoj, Afsal admits he lacked the drive shown by his teammates.

“For the first couple of years, I wasn’t serious about athletics,” he says. “Everyone around me trained really hard, but I didn’t have the same mindset.”

Watching his teammates return home with medals and seeing their photographs in newspapers forced him to look at himself differently.

“In 2010, I finished fourth in a 600m race,” he recalls. “That’s when I realised I wasn’t going to achieve anything unless I trained properly.”

The realisation transformed his approach.

“From the following year, I started working much harder,” he says. “In 2011, I won gold in the 3000m at the state championships and also set a new meet record. That gave me a lot of confidence.”

Confidence, however, was only one hurdle.

“I used to get nervous whenever I competed at the national level because there were so many established athletes,” Afsal admits. “Manoj sir helped me overcome that fear.”

The breakthrough soon followed.

“Later that year, I won gold in the 1500m at the Youth National Championships in Bengaluru,” he says. “After that, I never really looked back.”

Over the next few years, medals followed in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and cross country, but every podium finish was backed by sacrifices few people saw.

The road to the top wasn’t smooth

The daily commute to training became a test of determination in itself.

“The training ground was about 22 kilometres from my home, and practice started at 5:30 in the morning,” Afsal explains. “But the first bus from my village only left at 6:30, so there was no way I could reach on time.”

His solution was unconventional.

“I used to wake up at 3 am, hitch a ride with newspaper distribution vehicles, reach the training ground, sleep there for a while and then begin training. I was in Class 10 at the time.”

The sacrifices soon started paying off.

Afsal went on to win gold at the Asian School Championships in Malaysia, collected several medals at the School Nationals and even drove home a Tata Nano after winning a competition in 2013.

His performances also opened the door to a secure career.

“My first major senior competition came in 2015, when I was just 17, and I won the bronze medal,” he says. “That performance brought me job offers from different departments, but my dream had always been to join the Indian Air Force.”

He realised that dream a year later.

“I cleared the trials and joined the Air Force when I was 18,” Afsal says. “While training there, I continued winning medals at the senior national level.”

The success earned him a place in the national camp, where his personal best dropped to 1:46 in 2018.

But despite running the race of his life, there was disappointment.

“I ran my personal best in the same race where Jinson Johnson broke the national record,” he says. “But even then, I couldn’t qualify for the Asian Games.”

A career-changing conversation

The years that followed proved to be the toughest of his career.

His progress stalled. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the Olympic qualification cycle, and an ankle injury before the Tokyo qualifiers made matters worse.

“I twisted my ankle during the Olympic qualification period,” Afsal says. “That opportunity was gone, and I also lost my place in the national camp.”

For the first time, he questioned whether he should continue.

“There was a phase when I seriously thought about quitting athletics,” he admits.

His fortunes changed at an Inter-Services meet in Odisha.

“I finished third because I wasn’t in my best shape after the injury,” he says. “Ajith Markose sir watched my race and asked if I wanted to join the Reliance Foundation endurance team.”

It proved to be one of the most important conversations of his career.

“I joined Reliance in October 2021. “Looking back, that was the turning point,” Afsal says.

Working under Ajith Markose brought changes that were subtle but significant.

“Endurance was always one of my strengths,” he explains. “Coach analysed my races, redesigned my training programme and improved both my speed and endurance. High-altitude training also made a huge difference.”

The results came quickly. A personal best in 2022. An Asian Games silver medal in 2023. A national title in 2024.

Then, in July 2025, Afsal rewrote Indian athletics history by clocking 1:44.93 to become the country’s fastest-ever men’s 800m runner.

“I believe I can run even faster,” he says. “I want to improve on that timing.”

‘We’re not robots’

Looking back, Afsal believes the setbacks shaped him as much as the medals.

“There will always be ups and downs,” he says. “We’re not robots, we’re human beings.”

He credits his family for helping him survive the difficult years.

“Even when I had to stop midway through the Federation Cup race because of sinus issues, they never blamed me,” Afsal says. “They always encouraged me to keep going.”

The experience also shaped the advice he now gives young athletes.

“There will always be people who criticise you,” he says. “Ignore the negativity. Focus on your training, your recovery and your sleep. I believe that if you keep working hard, your efforts will eventually be rewarded.”

Uncomfortable conversations

Having experienced both the highs and lows of elite athletics, Afsal believes the sport also needs to confront difficult issues beyond the stopwatch.

“Doping at the junior level is a serious problem,” he says. “If you go to competitions, you’ll even find syringes in the bathrooms. I’m not saying everyone is doping, because there are plenty of athletes who succeed through hard work. But it is an issue that affects the sport and it causes injuries to the athletes.”

Financial insecurity, he feels, often compounds the problem.

“Many young athletes take up the sport hoping to secure a government job,” he says. “Not everyone comes from a financially secure family, and when those opportunities don’t come, some lose hope.”

With another Asian Games now on the horizon, Afsal’s focus has shifted back to what lies ahead.

The World Championships qualification mark of 1:43 remains one target.

The Asian Games is another. “This time,” he says with quiet conviction, “I want to win the gold medal.”