Bengaluru: Sneha SS' best companion and confidant is her diary. Its pages carry the athletes’ insecurities, fears, challenges and everything she struggles to express in front of another person.
The Karnataka speedsters' daily scribble has helped reflect, understand and transform her life for the better. It's the safe place where Sneha pours her heart out to build a mind of steel.
“Because on the track, it's always mind over body,” says the 27-year-old who has grown into one of the the top-3 100m women sprinters in India over the last two years.
“The coach will take care of physical technicalities. But it is my job to build mental fortitude. All these are basics, but I learnt about the importance of a positive mindset for an athlete a bit late. That’s why I work on my mind extensively,” confesses Sneha who belongs to an agricultural family from the village of Shanuvalli, Koppa taluk in Chikkamagaluru.
The Karnataka girl's relentless inner work has taken her from finishing between fourth and sixth positions to not missing a single 100m podium out of the seven domestic events she took part in 2025.
Entering the year after a good 2024 season, where she clocked her personal best of 11.41 seconds, Sneha began with a second-place finish at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in March with a time of 11.55s. She went on to win gold (11.79s) at the Indian Open Athletics Meet, bronze (11.62s) at the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition, silver (11.60s) in both the India Grand Prix 2 and (11.63s) Indian Open Athletics Meet and bronze (11.61s) at the 64th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships. At her final domestic race, Sneha blazed to the finish line first by clocking 11.62s at the 64th National Open Athletics Championships in Ranchi to end her year on a high. In between, a state championship gold (11.52s, electronic timing) was won after having equalled the state meet record of 11.30s (hand timing) in 2024.
The icing on the cake, the runner says, was representing India for the first time at an international event and winning a medal. This was at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea where she was an integral part of the 4x100m silver medal-winning team along with Nithya Gandhe, Abhinaya Rajarajan and Srabani Nanda. A week later in June, Sneha teamed-up with Nithya, Abhinaya and Sudeeksha Vadaluri to clinch 4x100m gold at the Taiwan Athletics Open.
“Yeah, finally. It was a dream come true to wear the India colours. Though my timings have been consistent throughout the season, I couldn’t improve on my personal best. That will be the focus for 2026.”
For someone who had to give up on her first love, long jump, due to an ankle issue that affected her take off from the board, Sneha has found her footing in the 100m dash. After Olympian Ashwini Nachappa and Commonwealth Games medallist HM Jyothi, Sneha is the new sprint queen from Karnataka. And the journey to claim the throne has been one of self-awareness.
“I’m the only child and was very pampered. I had a bindaas attitude… run to beat the boys and win first prize to enjoy the applause. Everything changes when things start becoming serious. When you taste success is when the fear of failure creeps in.
“Most times, self sabotage is our biggest enemy. I went through that phase too. But I learnt how to tackle and overcome it. I feel most proud of it today.”
As a demanding new season approaches, the pages of Sneha's ‘Dear diary’ await to teach her new lessons through the writings about her life on the fast lane.