CWG: Gurindervir finished 2nd in 100m heats. Why did he crash out?

India's fastest man Gurindervir Singh finished second in his men's 100m heat at the Commonwealth Games on Monday. Yet, instead of advancing to the semifinals, the Indian sprinter's campaign in Glasgow came to an early end.It was not a case of Gurindervir finishing outside the automatic qualification spots. The 25-year-old crossed the line behind Jamaica's Rohan Watson in Heat 4, but his timing of 10.39 seconds was simply not quick enough to take him into the next round. Gurindervir Singh finishes second in men's 100m heats. (Screengrab: Sony) So, how did India's fastest man finish second and still get eliminated? The answer lies in the unusual qualification format being used for the men's 100m in Glasgow.WHY DID GURINDERVIR NOT QUALIFY?A total of 76 athletes were scheduled to compete in the men's 100m, with the sprinters divided into 11 heats. With such a large field, the organisers did not simply send the top two or three finishers from every heat into the semifinals. Instead, the qualification system was based on a combination of finishing positions and timings. Seven athletes had already received byes into the semifinals, leaving 17 spots to be filled from the heats.That meant that finishing second was not enough for Gurindervir. He needed to record one of the 17 fastest timings among the athletes competing in the opening round. CWG 2026 Live: July 27 UpdatesUnfortunately for the Indian, his 10.39-second run left him well short of that mark.Gurindervir eventually finished 28th overall among the athletes competing in the heats, with Barbados' Kuron Griffith taking the final qualifying spot in 10.24 seconds.His Heat 4 winner, Jamaica's Rohan Watson, had no such concerns. Watson stormed to victory in 10.13 seconds and finished ninth overall, comfortably securing his place in the semifinals.GURINDERVIR NOWHERE HIS BESTThe biggest disappointment for Gurindervir was not necessarily the format, but the timing itself. The Indian sprinter arrived in Glasgow as the country's fastest man and with genuine hopes of challenging for a place in the latter stages of the competition.Just a few months ago, Gurindervir had rewritten the Indian record books.At the Federation Cup in Ranchi in May, he clocked 10.09 seconds to become the first Indian to run under 10.10 seconds in the men's 100m. It was a stunning run that put him within touching distance of the elusive 10-second barrier. Gurindervir Singh broke the national record in May 2026. (Photo: PTI) He had therefore entered the Commonwealth Games with ambitions of becoming the first Indian man to break 10 seconds.But the 10.39 in Glasgow was more than three-tenths of a second slower than his national record.Gurindervir made a decent start from Lane 5 in Heat 4 and stayed close to Watson in the early stages. But the Jamaican began to pull away in the final 30-35 metres, with Gurindervir eventually gassed out.COLD AND RAIN IN GLASGOWThe conditions did little to make life easier. Gurindervir's national record had come in very different circumstances.The 10.09 was clocked in the blistering heat of Ranchi, while Glasgow offered a much colder and wetter environment. Temperatures hovered around 15 degrees Celsius, with spells of rain adding another layer of difficulty for the sprinters. Rain interuppted athletes' rhythm in Glasgow. (Screengrab: Sony) That does not take away from Gurindervir's performance, especially considering the race was run with a legal tailwind of 1.5 m/s.But the conditions were certainly a stark contrast to those in which he produced the best run of his career.While Gurindervir struggled to break 10.40, Ghana's Benjamin Azamati and Abdul-Rasheed Saminu topped the qualification standings with extraordinary runs of 10.00 and 10.01 seconds respectively.The final qualification spot went to Griffith at 10.24. Gurindervir's 10.39 simply could not compete with those numbers.- EndsPublished By: Kingshuk KusariPublished On: Jul 27, 2026 16:44 IST