She defies the stereotyping that track and field athletes only come from humble backgrounds and do not express themselves in ways other than through their talent. Harmilan Bains may have been persuaded by her parents to take to athletics but she has shown that she can carve a niche for herself, exceeding their expectations in her maiden Asian Games appearance last year.
With 800m and 1500m silver medals in the Hangzhou Asian Games, she sprinted away from the shadows that loomed on her. Be it the long lay-off due to injury, surgery and rehab or the pressure that came along with being an Asian Games medalist’s daughter or anything else from the past decade. Her ability to bring her A game to the track was on show and how!
Undoubtedly, she belongs to a breed of athletes which is aware of its own strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, she represents that generation of athletes who are keen on charting their own journey. She draws from multiple sources of knowledge and wisdom, but makes her own decisions and doesn’t shirk from being held accountable.
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#Trailblazees2Conclave: Know Your Panelist:
Following the footsteps of her mother, who was a silver medalist in the 2002 Asian Games, @HarmilanBains bettered the record with two silvers in Hangzhou!
She’ll be present at Trailblazers 2.0.@TataSteelLtd @WeAreTeamIndia pic.twitter.com/Sbl9trVvzV
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) February 15, 2024
This ensured that she would not rush her return to the track. Instead, and wisely, she chose to complete her rehabilitation. That decision paid her dividends and she was able to prevent a Bahrain 1-2 in the 1500m where she ran a superb final lap before finishing second to a Sri Lankan youngster in the two-lapper.
Harmilan Bains does not find a place in the World Rankings in the 1500m because she has not run five races in the 12-month period. In fact, since her return from surgery and rehabilitation, she has run only three metric mile races. You can be sure that when she picks two good meets and records times that she has the potential to, she will catapult to a good spot on the charts.
At a young age, she has been able to find a balance between her training and the time on social media. An acute awareness that social media can be a double-edged sword coupled with the realisation that performance matters more than anything else, she has embraced substance but not at the cost of style.
For someone who wanted to be an engineer or a scientist but had embraced running as a career, the world of showbiz beckons her after the Olympic Games. But her focus on training for Paris 2024 is sharp as ever. It is no secret that Harmilan Bains is not given to talking much and that will make everyone attending the session featuring her at Trailblazers 2.0 listen to her intensely.
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