The 77th Senior National Aquatic Championships 2024 began with a splash at the International Aquatic Complex in Yemmekere, Mangaluru today. 10 events were conducted on the first day which also saw Hashika create a national record in the Women’s 400m Freestyle event.

The Men’s 400m saw Karnataka’s Aneesh S Gowda claim the top spot with a time of 3:56.59, coming in second by a fair distance was fellow state-mate Dharshan S, clocking 4:01.39. Karnataka’s Hashika Ramachandra broke a 13-year-old national record in the Women’s 400m Freestyle, held previously by Richa Mishra (4:25.76) from Ranchi, by clocking 4:24.70. Telangana’s Vritti Agarwal came in second with a time of 4:25.09.

Dhanush Suresh, from Tamil Nadu, finished first in the Men's 200m Breaststroke with a timing of 2:18.85. He was followed by Karnataka’s Manikanta L who clocked 2:20.66. In the Women’s 200m Breaststroke Karnataka’s Thanya Shadakshari touched the pads first at 2:40.54 and coming in second was Maharashtra ’s Jyoti Bajirao Pati, who clocked 2:42.01.

The Men’s 100m Backstroke saw Akash Mani, representing Karnataka, finish first with a time of 56.15, followed by Rishabh Anupam Das from Maharashtra who completed the event in 57.28. Bengal’s Soubrity Mondal was the first to touch the pads in the Women’s 100m Backstroke at 1:05.51, she was joined shortly by Odisha ’s Pratyasa Ray who clocked 1:05.82.

B Benedicton Rohit, from Tamil Nadu, narrowly edged out the competition to finish first at the Men’s 50m Butterfly with a time of 24.22, while Maharashtra ’s Mihir Ambre followed him closely to come in second with 24.37. The Women’s 50m Butterfly ended with Bihar ’s Mahi Swetraj finishing first with a time of 28.33 and Karnataka’s Manavi Varma finishing second with 28.67.

Shirin, Shalini R Dixit, Naisha, and Hashika Ramachandra from Karnataka led the Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle relay from the start whistle and claimed the top spot with a timing of 8:54.85. Maharashtra ’s Deepti Raghunath Tilak, Diksha Sandip Yadav, Dakshajaa Dey Upreti, and Aditi Satish Hegde finished second at 9:01.15.

Aneesh S Gowda, Dharshan S, Kartikeyan Nair, and Dhakshan S from Karnataka won the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle relay with a time of 7:42.90 and Sanu Debnath, Devansh Maheshkumar Parmar, M Vasuram, and Sathya Sai Krishnan M from RSPB finished second with 7:47.64.