Tamil Nadu’s Asian Games-bound R. Vithya Ramraj came agonisingly close to breaking the legendary PT Usha’s 39-year-old women’s 400m hurdles record as she clocked 55.43 seconds during the Indian Grand Prix 5 here on Monday.

The 24-year-old Vithya’s time was just one-hundredth of a second less than Usha’s 55.42, which she had clocked while finishing fourth in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Usha’s record is the second oldest national record in athletics after Shivnath Singh's marathon national record of 1978.

Usha is currently serving as the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

“Madam Usha is so talented and that is why her record stood for so long. I wanted to break the record, it was in my mind before the race today (Monday). I wanted to be the new Ma’am (Usha),” Vithya said.

“I was a bit slow in my first 200m and then picked up speed. Had I run faster in the first 200m, I would have broken the national record today itself. But there is the Asian Games coming up, and I will try to break the national record there,” the athlete added after her event.

Vithya has already made it to the Hangzhou Games beginning September 23 as she had breached the qualifying standard of 57.48 seconds while winning gold at the National Inter-State Championships in June with a time of 56.01. Her timing will put her in the second spot in the season's top list among the Asians behind Kemi Adekoya of Bahrain.

India's Anu Raghavan had won a bronze in the 2018 Asian Games with a time of 56.92.

Veteran discus thrower Seema Punia also made the Asian Games qualifying distance of 57m by clearing 57.96m in her fourth-round attempt. All her other five attempts were fouls.