Commonwealth Games 2026: Why Animesh Kujur prefers running in Lane 6 or 7 over the 200m

4 min readNew DelhiJul 26, 2026 12:58 PM IST Indian sprinter Animesh Kujur in action. (Express Photo by Deepak Joshi)Martin Owens isn’t a weather whiner but he wasn’t pleased with the gloomy skies in Glasgow on Friday, the day he landed in the host city of the Commonwealth Games. Owens knows the ins and outs of speed as he is the man Animesh Kujur, the 200 metre national record holder, trusts as his coach. Owens hopes it gets a little brighter by the time Kujur settles into the starting blocks.“If Animesh goes below 20 (seconds) in Glasgow on a grey, miserable afternoon, it will be a phenomenal run,” Owens said. “He just needs to focus on racing. It isn’t about chasing records. Championships are about medals,” Owens said to put in perspective what is at stake. At the 2025 Asian Athletics C