Ancy Sojan Interview
Q. You’ve been making steady progress in Indian athletics — how would you describe your journey so far?
I started my journey with sprints and long jumps in childhood. It took me about 10 years to win my first international medal. I began as a sprinter and later shifted to long jump, achieving many national-level successes in school and championships, with over 100 medals.
Wearing the Indian jersey for 1–2 years was a dream come true, and my goal became to win medals for India. As a child, I loved sports and was inspired by watching Olympic races, especially 200-meter events. My father encouraged me to represent India one day.
There was a time I considered quitting, but I returned stronger. From 2021, I joined the national camp and started competing internationally, and by 2023, I began winning international medals.
So far, I have won three major international medals: a bronze at the Asian Indoor Championship (China, 2026), a silver at the 2023 Asian Games, and a silver at the 2025 Asian Championship. I have also won multiple medals in invitational events across Europe and Asia.
Throughout this journey, my parents have always supported me.
Q. You've grown a lot as an athlete - what changes in your training have made the biggest difference?
Earlier, I didn’t follow structured recovery and believed in training continuously without rest. I was very aggressive in my approach and pushed myself hard every day. By 2020, after years of intense training, my body couldn’t handle the same workload. My performance started dropping, and I faced frequent injuries.
After joining the national camp, I learned the importance of recovery, proper training patterns, and balanced workload. Strength and conditioning improved my muscle quality, and I made significant technical improvements, especially in my runway technique.
As a long jumper, maintaining speed and rhythm on the runway is crucial, and my sprinting background helped improve my jump distances. Focusing on strength, conditioning, and technique brought major improvements. Along with this, my mindset, dedication, and passion played a key role in my progress.
Q. Right before your run-up, how do you get into the perfect mindset?
For me, performance is about visualization, concentration, and staying calm. It’s important to enjoy the process—if it feels like a burden, you can’t perform at your best. While it may feel difficult at first, with experience, you start enjoying it, and that leads to real progress.
I try to stay serious but also treat competitions as a challenge to enjoy. Before my jump, I often engage with the crowd, and their cheers boost my confidence. During warm-up, music helps me get into rhythm and build the right level of energy and aggression.
When my jumps are going well, I can sense it’s my day—like during the 2023 Asian Games, where I kept improving with each attempt. Ultimately, the key is to execute a strong runway, push your limits, and enjoy the moment.
Q. Every athlete has learning moments - how do you usually bounce back stronger after one?
The learning process is different for everyone. Some people feel regret after failure, get stuck, or give up, while others use it as motivation to come back stronger. For me, failure has always pushed me to improve, even when I didn’t fully understand what went wrong.
This journey is like climbing a mountain, with constant ups and downs. Performance is never steady, but the key is to keep going through both highs and lows.
I have always believed in making strong comebacks. The drive to overcome challenges is what motivates me, and that mindset has helped me grow, improve, and achieve my goals.
Q. How important is it for you to keep pushing your own personal best?
For three to four years, I experienced strong progress. However, last year, despite winning a medal, I felt my overall performance was average. At higher levels, improving even a few centimeters or achieving a new personal best becomes very difficult, and progress often reaches a plateau where small details make the difference.
That’s why I push myself to maximize performance, especially at a younger age. I’ve also seen many European athletes peak even after 30, which motivates me to keep improving with discipline.
Ultimately, the biggest challenge is not competing with others, but constantly pushing beyond my own limits.
Q. Can you take us through what a typical day in your training life looks like?
On training days, my schedule usually starts in the morning around 7:30 a.m. The session goes on properly until about 10:00 a.m., and sometimes it extends to 10:30 a.m. including cooldown.
In the evenings, training usually starts around 4:00 p.m. on specific days like Tuesday and Friday. These sessions continue until around 7:00 or 7:30 p.m., including recovery and cooldown.
On Fridays, the session can take even longer because of additional recovery processes like ice baths. On those days, I sometimes reach dinner only around 8:30 p.m.
On other days, evening training may start slightly later, around 4:30 p.m., depending on the schedule. Overall, the training plan is structured in an alternating pattern across the week.
Sunday is usually a rest day. Also, on Tuesdays and Fridays, I get rest in the morning because we have technical training sessions scheduled in the evening.
Q. Travel is a big part of an athlete's life and precision how do you approach that during your jumps?
As an athlete, I have to travel a lot for competitions. Travel can sometimes affect recovery, especially due to night journeys, lack of proper sleep, and challenges with hydration and food. These factors can make it difficult to maintain peak condition.
However, I have learned to adapt to these situations. That is why, during team tours, we usually try to reach the competition venue at least three days in advance. This helps us adjust to the environment.
If my event is scheduled on the last day, it actually becomes an advantage for me, because I get more time to adapt to the climate and surroundings of the place where I will compete.
One of the most important things is mental preparation. I prepare myself for different weather conditions in advance. For example, if it is going to be cold, I mentally prepare myself to compete in that environment.
At the end of the day, everyone has to compete under the same conditions, so there are no excuses. The key is to be mentally ready to handle and overcome any situation or climate.
Q. As an athlete, what's something about your sport that you wish more people understood?
In India, at the sports level, I feel that cricket is much bigger compared to other sports. It has a very high level of commercial support and visibility. If similar support is given to other sports as well, it would be very beneficial.
In athletics, the Olympic success of Neeraj Chopra has played a very important role. After his achievement, more people started paying attention to athletics and became interested in it.
I also want to bring that kind of attention to my event and create awareness, so that more people can follow and support it. Athletics is now growing in India, including events like jumps.
Athletics is actually the foundation of fitness for any sport. It builds the basic physical strength and conditioning required in all games. So if people and authorities promote athletics more, it would greatly benefit the overall sports culture in India.
Q. You compete at a high level - how do you stay composed and focused during important events?
Competing at the Commonwealth level was my first big platform, where I narrowly missed qualifying for the finals by one position. That experience taught me a lot and motivated me to come back stronger. I focused on improving my runway and overall performance.
The next year, at the Asian Championship, I again narrowly missed a medal, which was disappointing but valuable for learning. All these experiences helped me eventually win a medal at the Asian Games in China.
I learned that failure is a great teacher—it pushes you to improve more than success does. Initially, I felt fear before big competitions, but once I entered the arena, my mindset changed. Past experiences gave me confidence, helping me understand how to handle competitions better and perform accordingly.
Q. What message would you like to give to young athletes who look up to you?
People often see long jump as just a simple event, but when they truly get into it, they begin to understand the technique and the art behind it.
I am really glad that many young athletes now see me as a role model and try to follow my style. That feels very special. Even in my childhood, I had my own role models — athletes I admired and wanted to become like. My role models were Usain Bolt and Neymar Jr..
I feel happy that I can now inspire others, and I want to give them this advice: I have gone through many failures and very difficult moments in my life, but I never gave up. There were times when I felt like quitting, but somehow I found the strength to come back again. That is why I am here today.
Success is not automatic. It takes years of hard work, dedication, and consistency to reach this level and to maintain it. It requires strong determination and commitment — not just mentally, but physically as well.
Sports also teach us a lot about our own body. We learn what to eat, how to recover, how many calories we need, and many scientific aspects related to performance. It is a great learning experience in life.
A sportsperson becomes mentally strong and fearless. They learn how to face challenges and keep moving forward.
So my message is simple: don’t give up in the middle. Struggles are part of the journey. Good things take time. Be patient, keep working, and you will achieve your goals.
Bio:
Ancy Sojan is an Indian track and field athlete specializing in the long jump. She represents India in national and international competitions and has steadily built a reputation for her consistency and powerful performances. Ancy has competed in major events like the Asian Championships and national meets, where she has delivered notable results. Known for her determination and work ethic, she is considered one of the promising long jumpers in Indian athletics.
Interviewed by: Samruddhi Salunkhe
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