Of vision board and imagined times: Athena’s tryst with excellence on track

Bengaluru: Athena Sanjoy writes her goals before she runs them. On a vision board of imagined times, Olympic sprinters and future podiums, the track athlete has learned that success comes for those willing to want it, work for it and stay with it.

In 2025, belief became nine gold medals, winning multiple state and national titles, including CISCE national golds in the 400m flat and 400m hurdles.

Her speed began as play. “We used to play tag like it’s life or death,” she said of running through Kerala’s lanes.

Soon, “winning everything”  at school races wasn’t enough, and Athena wanted more.“So, in the ninth grade, I started self-training… I realised I’m actually good at this,” she remembers. Without formal guidance, pre-dawn alarms, cement sprints and stubborn repetition followed.

“I should have researched more about it,” she laughs. “I used to go all out on that cement path, which slowly led to me being injured.”

Lessons learnt, she started training under Vikram Aiyappa at Fusion Athletics, and started competing professionally, bagging her first gold in 400m at the state level in 2023 while in the 10th grade. Still, training remains the part she loves. “For me it’s fun,” she says, but the rest is hard: “If I don’t make it by 5:30 am, I get punished.”

By eight, she’s back at school, trying to keep up with class while her body recovers.

If discipline taught Athena how to work, belief taught her how to aim. A vision board in her room tracks goals that once felt outlandish.

“Some of them were so unrealistic,” she says. “I can’t believe I wrote them. But then they happened.”

The numbers back it up. In the 400m, she wrote 56 and ran 56. In the 200, stuck at 27, she wrote 24 “for funzies” and hit it. What began as imagination turned into proof: wanting something clearly can move the clock. But not everything she writes down comes true.

Belief and work collided in October, when a qualifying race for the India camp ended in heartbreak. Placed in the fastest heat, she ran 57.2 and thought she’d done enough — then saw the results: disqualified for brushing the white line. A rare double disqualification followed in the team relay. “This was something I’d manifested for so long… but I guess I can’t expect everything to work.

“If I’m not fast enough, that’s fine. But this felt like the universe didn’t want me to do this.” Next up is the Junior Federation meet in April, a stepping stone toward the Asian Youth Games.

In training, she can hit 55, but under pressure, execution slips. “I’m not running the race properly.” Her coach’s blunt advice: “Stop picking, just run.”

Sport, Athena believes, rewards obsession. “It’s about who wants it the most.”

For her, that wanting never switches off, up until belief turns into time on the clock.