Jinson Johnson is a man doing wonders in a sport where India has traditionally not dominated for decades. Middle-distance runner Jinson Johnson, who hails from Kerala carries the hopes of a nation on his shoulders as we get nearer to the Tokyo Olympics 2020. A series of injuries hampered his progress last year, but the athlete is fit and raring to go again. The Kozhikode lad was born on March 15, 1991. As he turns 29 today, on his birthday, we take a look at some of the lesser-known things about him.

  • Jinson Jhonson is a junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army and is currently posted at Hyderabad. He holds the rank of Naib Subedar.

  • He has a gold medal in 1500m at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta with a timing of 3:44:72 as well as a silver in 800m.

  • At the ISTAF Berlin event, he bettered his own national record by clocking 3 minutes 35.24 seconds and finished behind Joshua Thompson of the United States of America.

  • He gradually shifted his focus from 800m to 1500m to give himself more chance of winning an Olympics medal since 800m is highly dominated by international athletes.

  • Jinson Jhonson broke Sriram Singh’s 42-year-old record of 1:45:77 secs in 800m by clocking 1:45:65 secs at Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship.

  • He trained under Scott Simmons in Colorado Springs while dealing with Achilles Tendon problem, but the stint did not bear the right results.

  • While winning gold at the 2018 Asian Games, he surpassed the timing of the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medal winner which was an incredible feat and lauded by the Indian Government as well.

Jinson Johnson is a tremendous athlete and is currently in the process of attaining peak fitness. Once at his best, he is a real medal prospect for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2020 12:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).