For three years, everyone kept asking Vithya Ramraj the same question: “When will you break it?”
She had already equalled PT Usha’s national record in the 400m hurdles (55.42 seconds) at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. But equalling it, it seemed, was no longer enough. The question followed her from event to event, interview to interview, until it became less a number and more a persistent voice in her head.
When she finally ran 54.75 seconds at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, Ramraj did more than win a bronze medal. She broke one of Indian athletics’ longest-standing records, yes. But most importantly, she silenced that voice in her head. “I was never going for the medal, but the timing”, she says. “Once my timing flashed on the big screen, I was finally relieved.”
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Back in India, Ramraj’s identical twin, Nithya, didn’t watch the milestone happen. At her gym in Chennai, Nithya chose a corner that didn’t have access to the television, not even its volume. “I watched the replay only,” she says. It’s an oddly anticlimactic way to witness the most defining moment of your twin’s career thus far. Except, the Ramraj twins, both professional athletes, have not had the most conventional sibling relationship. Rivalry? “No,” Nithya says. Longing to have that for herself too? “Not at all,” she insists. Some fights now and then? “Not that either,” laughs the 100m hurdler, who had to miss the event in Japan due to an injury. “I read in a scientific paper that identical twins don’t fight.” The real reason she didn’t watch the match, Nithya reveals, was unmitigated nervousness. Vithya and her had discussed the moment of victory many times over, and Nithya was confident it would come to pass, “but I got a little tense in the actual moment, so I stepped away.”
Soon after Vithya’s milestone win, the sisters connected virtually. Toothy smiles, digital hugs and a repeat of Vithya’s celebratory jig followed. Certain her sister would break the record this time, Nithya had sifted through endless Instagram reels before finally settling on one dance step. In the build-up to the Games, the sisters rehearsed a few times over video calls.
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