Gayathri Govindhraj surprised many on Tuesday when she came up with her best performance to secure a silver in the 100m hurdles event at the Commonwealth Youth Games at the Shiv Chhatrapati athletics stadium in Balewadi. A day later, however, it seemed quite normal when she added a 4x100m gold relay to her kitty.

Talking to The Indian Express after the medal ceremony, Gayathri stated her effort was doubly sweet as many of her fellow competitors had given her no chance of making an impression. “But all my coaches were sure I would do well,” said the versatile athlete from Chennai, who has now turned her focus on Thursday’s triple jump.

“At the start of my athletics career, I was a junior national triathlete, but my coach Dr. P Nagarajan advised me concentrate on the track and field events,” said Gayathri, who first did just fitness exercises for three years. Blessed with strong legs, her coaches have advised her to concentrate on both jumping and hurdling. “They said if you train well for the triple, you’d well in the hurdles also.”

Lack of proper competition in the national meets is one of the problems the 5-foot 9-inch tall girl is now facing. “The Barbados, who won the event on Tuesday, helped me to clock my best time-ever of 14 secs. But the crowd was also was very supportive,” she added.