National record-holder and Asian Games gold-winning Indian middle-distance runner Jinson Johnson announced his retirement today. The 34-year-old Kerala athlete’s best moment was winning the 1500 metres gold in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games with a time of 3 minutes 44.72 seconds. He also won a silver medal in the 800 metres in the same Games. 

 

In 2018, Johnson broke legendary Sriram Singh’s 42-year-old men’s 800 metres national record during the National Inter-State Championship in Guwahati by clocking 1 minute 45.65 seconds. During the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Johnson broke Bahadur Prasad’s 23-year-old 1500 metres national record with a time of 3 minutes 37.86 seconds, though he finished fifth in the final.

 

He later improved his own national record twice, the latest instance being the 3:35.24 sec mark in 2019 in a Berlin meet.