<p>Rupal Chaudhary created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the World U20 Athletics Championship as she followed up her 4x400m relay silver with a bronze medal in the women's 400m here.</p>.<p>Hailing from a family with modest means, her father being a small-time farmer in Shahpur Jainpur village in UP's Meerut district, the 17-year-old has been in incredible form having run as many as four 400m races in just three days.</p>.<p>Rupal clocked 51.85 seconds to finish third behind Yemi Mary John (51.50) of Great Britain and Damaris Mutunga (51.71) of Kenya on Thursday night.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, she had won a silver as part of the 4x400m relay quartet that finished second behind the USA with an Asian junior record time of 3:17.76s.</p>.<p>On the same day, she ran her individual 400m first-round heat before featuring in the semi-finals on Wednesday and final on Thursday.</p>.<p>She ran her personal best time twice in the championships, first a 52.27s in the semi-finals before bettering it in the final.</p>.<p>Earlier this year, Rupal stunned pre-race favourite Priya Mohan of Karnataka to clinch the gold medal in the women's 400m at the National U-20 Federation Cup Athletics Championships here on Friday.</p>.<p>Rupal is the second Indian to have won a medal in the women's 400m after Hima Das clinched a historic gold in the 2018 edition of the championships in Finland with a time of 51.46s.</p>.<p>Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was the first Indian to win a gold in the championships in 2016 in Poland.</p>.<p>Rupal's bronze is India's ninth medal overall from the championships, which was earlier known as World Junior Championships. In the last edition in Nairobi in 2021, India had won three medals -- 2 silver, 1 bronze.</p>
<p>Rupal Chaudhary created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the World U20 Athletics Championship as she followed up her 4x400m relay silver with a bronze medal in the women's 400m here.</p>.<p>Hailing from a family with modest means, her father being a small-time farmer in Shahpur Jainpur village in UP's Meerut district, the 17-year-old has been in incredible form having run as many as four 400m races in just three days.</p>.<p>Rupal clocked 51.85 seconds to finish third behind Yemi Mary John (51.50) of Great Britain and Damaris Mutunga (51.71) of Kenya on Thursday night.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, she had won a silver as part of the 4x400m relay quartet that finished second behind the USA with an Asian junior record time of 3:17.76s.</p>.<p>On the same day, she ran her individual 400m first-round heat before featuring in the semi-finals on Wednesday and final on Thursday.</p>.<p>She ran her personal best time twice in the championships, first a 52.27s in the semi-finals before bettering it in the final.</p>.<p>Earlier this year, Rupal stunned pre-race favourite Priya Mohan of Karnataka to clinch the gold medal in the women's 400m at the National U-20 Federation Cup Athletics Championships here on Friday.</p>.<p>Rupal is the second Indian to have won a medal in the women's 400m after Hima Das clinched a historic gold in the 2018 edition of the championships in Finland with a time of 51.46s.</p>.<p>Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was the first Indian to win a gold in the championships in 2016 in Poland.</p>.<p>Rupal's bronze is India's ninth medal overall from the championships, which was earlier known as World Junior Championships. In the last edition in Nairobi in 2021, India had won three medals -- 2 silver, 1 bronze.</p>