Four National Records on Day 1: Ahmedabad Witnesses a Historic Opening at the 79th Senior Nationals

Ahmedabad, 16 June 2026 — The 79th Senior National Aquatics Championships opened at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad on Tuesday with a day that Indian swimming will talk about for a long time. Four National Meet Records fell across seven events, with teenagers from Maharashtra and Bengal trading the most extraordinary swims of the session, and Karnataka’s women capping the evening with a relay performance that was in a different class altogether.

Astha Choudhury Shatters a 17-Year-Old Butterfly Record

The most anticipated result of Day 1 arrived in Event 1. Astha Choudhury of RSPB, who had already led the Women’s 200m Butterfly morning heat with 2:20.84, came back in the final and delivered a performance that rewrote history. Her time of 2:18.37 erased Arhatha Maghavi Kar’s national record of 2:19.59 that had stood since 2009 — a record that had survived seventeen years of Senior Nationals. Choudhury didn’t just clip it; she went 1.22 seconds under it. She swam the race with a rather uncommon technique of breathing on the side instead of the more popular front breathe. She managed to better the record and we can only wait to see what she does next.

The final itself was remarkable for its depth. Dakshina Joshi of Rajasthan, born in 2010 and competing at just 15, improved from 2:26.07 in the heats to 2:20.82 in the final — a 5.25-second drop in a single day. But the performance that stopped conversations poolside was from Sanithi Mukherjee of Bengal, born in 2012. She is 13 or 14 years old. She swam 2:22.76 to finish third in a Senior National final. There is no polite way to contextualise that — it is simply extraordinary.

Vinayak Vijay Dethrones Shoan Ganguly in the 200m IM

Event 2 produced the biggest upset of the day. Shoan Ganguly of Karnataka had set the 200m Individual Medley national record of 2:04.34 at Bhubaneswar just twelve months ago and had topped the morning heat at 2:06.07. The final was supposed to confirm him. Instead, Vinayak Vijay of SSCB produced a masterclass swim of 2:04.13 — breaking Ganguly’s own national record by 0.21 seconds. One of the things to really look out for is the underwater of Vinayak in the last leg of the medley. That was truly a revelation.

Ganguly still had a fine final, clocking 2:05.32 for silver — a time that would have been an NMR in any other year. Vijay, remarkably, also competed in the 100m Backstroke final the same evening, finishing second at 56.14. His workload across two events in a single session, one of them a national record swim, speaks to his fitness and competitive temperament.

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Images: SFITV YouTube Channel

Aditi Satish Hegde — The Distance Story of the Meet So Far

Event 3, the Women’s 1500m Freestyle, produced what may be the most astonishing result of the entire day when viewed through the lens of age. Aditi Satish Hegde of Maharashtra, born in 2010, is fifteen or sixteen years old. She won the event in 17:20.82, smashing Bhavya Sachdeva’s national record of 17:35.07 — set just last year at Bhubaneswar — by 14.25 seconds.

Vritti Agarwal of Telangana pushed her hard throughout, finishing second in 17:22.17 — also inside the previous national record. Two swimmers went under the NR in the same race. For Indian distance freestyle, this is a generational moment. Both swimmers were battling it out in the pool and pushing each other; in the end it was Aditi who edged out Vritti by a small margin.

Akash Mani Leads the Sprint — 100m Freestyle Final

In Event 4, Akash Mani of Karnataka backed his morning-session lead with a clean, authoritative final win. He improved from 50.61 in the heats to 50.40 in the final, holding off B. Benedicton Rohit of Tamil Nadu (50.79) and Heer Gitesh Shah of Maharashtra (51.06). Mani, born in 2006, is now 0.46 seconds from Srihari Nataraj’s national record of 49.94 set in 2021. At twenty, the trajectory is obvious. The race saw Akash Mani lead from the start with a back-and-forth battle between him and Benedicton Rohit; in the end it was Akash Mani who finished stronger.

An unusual footnote: Adhithya Dinesh (Tamil Nadu) and Anand As (SSCB) dead-heated for fifth place, both clocking exactly 51.49.

Karnataka Claims the 50m Breaststroke — Lineysha AK Wins the Final

The Women’s 50m Breaststroke final flipped the morning’s order. Lineysha AK of Karnataka, who had qualified third in 33.94, came through in the final with 33.51 to take gold. Mittapalli Rithvika of Telangana, who had led the heats at 33.75, finished second in 33.63. S Lakshya (Karnataka) took bronze at 33.84, giving Karnataka two of the three medals. The national record of 32.94 by Chahat Arora remains intact.

Rishabh Das — 55.44 and the NR Is in Sight

The Men’s 100m Backstroke final was the evening’s closing individual highlight. Rishabh Anupam Das of Maharashtra — who made history in May 2026 at the Sydney Open as the first Indian to swim the 200m backstroke under two minutes — clocked 55.44 to win the national title. He improved by nearly a full second from his morning heat of 56.38. Srihari Nataraj’s national record of 55.10 is now just 0.34 seconds away.

Vinayak Vijay (SSCB, 56.14) and Utkarsh Santosh Patil (SSCB, 56.15) were separated by a hundredth of a second for silver and bronze. Nithik Nathella of Tamil Nadu finished fourth at 57.42.

Karnataka’s Women Demolish the 4x100m Freestyle Relay Record

If the individual events were extraordinary, the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay final was something else entirely. Karnataka clocked 3:53.45 — shattering RSPB’s national record of 4:01.83 set at Mangalore in 2024 by more than eight seconds. The four legs told the story: Nina Venkatesh (59.55), Tanishi Gupta (58.41), Rujula S (57.98), and Dhinidhi Desinghu anchoring in a blazing 57.51.

Bengal finished second in 4:01.99, just outside the old national record. RSPB were third at 4:02.58 — also outside their own previous NR. Karnataka didn’t just win; they moved to a different stratosphere. This quartet, with Dhinidhi Desinghu and Rujula S as the anchor pair, could be a genuine relay force at the Asian level.

Day 1 Results at a Glance

What to Watch on Day 2

Day 2 brings a loaded programme. The big one is Event 11, Women’s 200m Freestyle, where Dhinidhi Desinghu — fresh from her 57.51 relay anchor — lines up alongside Astha Choudhury (who is doubling up after her butterfly NMR), Vritti Agarwal, and Aditi Satish Hegde. The national record of 2:02.97, set by Desinghu herself at Bhubaneswar last year, is very much in play. This could be the race of the meet.

Event 8, Men’s 50m Backstroke brings back Rishabh Das, Vinayak Vijay, and the NMR holder Srihari Nataraj himself — all in the same heat. The national record of 25.58 set by Nataraj at Bhopal in 2019 will be under genuine pressure. Event 10, Men’s 50m Freestyle could see Akash Mani and Heer Gitesh Shah go head-to-head in the sprint, with Srihari Nataraj also in the field. And the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay (Event 14) will tell us a great deal about Karnataka’s overall team depth, as they defend their national record of 7:37.65. The Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Event 15) closes the day — Karnataka, the NMR holders at 3:41.18, will be the team to beat there too.

Day 1 Medal Tally

Tally includes individual events and relay. Karnataka’s relay gold counted as one team medal.