Imranur Rahman and Shirin Akter retained their status as the country’s fastest man and woman respectively after winning the 100m sprint events on the opening day of the 49th National Athletics Competition 2026 at the National Stadium, Dhaka on Sunday.
Representing Bangladesh Navy, Imranur clocked 10.58s to secure the top spot in the men’s 100m sprint, beating Navy teammate Md Ismail (10.86s) and Md Naeem Islam (10.91s) of the Air Force.
The UK-based sprinter improved on his previous national meet timing of 10.64s, recorded at the 17th National Summer Athletics Championship 2025 last August. He also won gold in that event, ahead of Abdul Motaleb and Ismail. Ismail also improved his timing from 10.88s.
Since beginning to represent Bangladesh in 2022, Imranur has consistently clinched the top spot in the country’s most prestigious 100m event at every domestic competition he has entered.
Shirin made a strong comeback after narrowly losing her crown in the last national competition. In the 2025 Summer Meet, Shirin clocked 12.21s, finishing just behind Sumaiya Dewan (12.19s).
This time, the Navy sprinter reclaimed the “queen of the track” title with a timing of 12.10s. Army’s Sharifa Khatun and Rakha Akter finished second and third, clocking 12.25s and 12.34s respectively.
It was the 17th time Shirin has won the women’s fastest sprinter title.
A total of 434 athletes from 49 teams are participating in the competition.
Two national records were set on the first day, both in shot put. In the men’s shot put, Navy’s Golam Sorowar (15.94m) and in the women’s event, Army’s Jannat Begum (14.24m) broke their own national records (Sorowar’s 15.50m and Jannat’s 13.91m).
