The Indian athlete Parvej Khan made it to the national headlines after he finished on top of the 1500m Final qualifying at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships at Hayward Field in Eguene, Oregon on Saturday, May 11.
The 19-year-old participated in the 1500m race and qualified for the final after achieving the top qualifying timing of 3:44:98. He managed to secure his berth in the NCAA 1500m final after finishing ahead of other runners in Heat 3. NCAA Championships of the United States is one of the most collegiate competitions in the world, with athletes from different institutes vying for the top honours.
A video went viral on social media, where Parvej Khan was seen quickly overtaking other runners in Heat 3 of the 1500m and started celebrating when only 100m left to finish the race.
Parvej Khan made his NCAA Championships (Indoor) debut in March this year and became the first Indian to qualify for a track event of the most competitive collegiate competition. He finished third in the one mile preliminary run and made it to the final of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston.
Parvej represents the University of Florida's Florida Gators in the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
Parvej Khan journey from Haryana to USA
Parvej Khan comes from a humble family background residing in Metwa district of Haryana. His parents are into farming. Parvej was born in the Chahalka village in Metwa district, which is about 50 kms from the South of Delhi. His father, Nafees Khan, used to grow wheat and cattle fodder on the five acres of land that he owned.
The Metwa-born runner is so talented that he would often beat the boys who were much older to him. At the young age of 13, Parvej left his village and went to Delhi for better prospects and facilities to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional runner.
A year after training at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Parvej Khan decided to shift his base to Bhopal and started training at Sports Authority of India (SAI), wherein he was taken under the wings of coach Anupama Srivastava.
Parvej Khan's first career breakthrough came when he won the Gold medal in the 800m race at the U-16 Nationals in Mangalgiri in 2019, followed up with a Bronze medal in U-18 Khelo India Games in 2020.
Parvej Khan is a National Games Gold medalist
Parvej Khan clinched the gold medal in the National Open and a silver medal in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai in 2022.
However, the National Games gold medal was a turning point of his professional running career wherein he clocked 3.40.89 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat in 2022.
Thereafter, Parvej Khan moved to USA and joined prestigious University of Florida on a scholarship. The 19-year-old became part of the University's Florida Gators athletic team through which he made his NCAA Championships debut in Baston in March this year.
After making it to the 1500m Final, Parvej Khan will look to join Indian athletes Tejaswin Shankar (high jump), Mohinder Singh Gill (triple jump) and Vikas Gowd (discuss) who won gold medals in their respective track and field events at the NCAA Championships.
