Andhra Pradesh and Railway star Jyothi Yarraji made history by becoming the first Indian woman to clock a legal sub-13 second time for 100m Hurdles at the 61st AFI National Open Athletics Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru today.

The 23-year-old cruised to victory in 12.82 seconds and, with the wind gauge reading 0.9m/s, she could not be denied that honour a second time. She had won the National Games in IIT Gandhinagar in a time of 12.79 seconds but was supported by wind that exceeded the permissible limit.

Jyothi Yarraji was unstoppable tonight. She had already owned the meet mark with 13.18 seconds in the heats, bettering the record of 13.38 seconds set by Odisha Olympian Anuradha Biswal in Chennai 20 years ago. In the final, she hit the front by the time the seven athletes got to the second hurdle and was a comfortable winner.

The Railways star, who trains at Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics High Performance Centre trains at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, capped a fine season, with a fumble only at the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai in June. She thus became the second fastest Asian in the event this year and earned a place just outside the all-time Top 10 list of the continent.

It was the third time this year that she rewrote the National record. She broke the Anuradha Biswal mark of 13.38 set in 2002 with 13.11 in Loughborough University on May 22. Four days later, she raised the bar to 13.04 seconds in Vught, Netherlands. Earlier, had a 13.09-second effort in the Federation Cup in Kozhikode but was denied by excessive wind speed.