Meet Gulveer Singh, who broke his coach's 16-yr-old national record in 10,000m

On March 16, the 22-year-old Asian Games bronze medallist athlete Gulveer Singh shattered a 16-year-old national record in the men’s 10,000m to finish second at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano in California. (Photo ANI)

In February this year, Gulveer Singh suffered heartbreak at the end of the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran. The runner had celebrated gold in the men’s 3,000 metre race, only to have his medal rescinded due to lane infringement. The Athletics Federation of India even appealed the decision, but it was eventually rejected. While the 3,000m event isn’t a part of the Paris Olympics, the win would have been a good boost for the youngster’s confidence.

It has taken patient rebuilding on Singh’s part over the last few weeks to get over the disappointment. On March 16, the 22-year-old lined up at the start of the 10,000 metre race of the TEN meet in San Juan Capistrano in the United States. And by the end of it, he had more than one reason to celebrate.

His time of 27:41:81 was not only good enough for silver, but along the way, he had also eclipsed the national record of 28:02:89 that was held by his own coach, Surendra Singh, since 2008. More importantly, he had dropped below the 28-minute mark for the first time in his distance running career.

It spells remarkable progress for the athlete from Uttar Pradesh, who first took up competitive running as recently as 2019. The idea was to simply earn a promotion in the Indian Army where he is currently employed, but as he started racing, his seniors realised that he had a knack for endurance as well as speed. With structured training, the results followed for Singh.

In April 2022, he picked up the 10,000m bronze at the National Federation Cup in Thenhipalam, which was his first medal at the senior level. In October that year, he took top spot at the National Games.

He got off to a slow start in 2023 at the Federation Cup in Ranchi, but that gold helped him qualify for the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok. Through the rest of the year, he consistently dropped times with each event, which culminated in the Asian Games bronze where he registered his second-fastest time (28.17.21) in the 10,000m race.

The 22-year-old is a work in progress under Surendra Singh and still needs to shed 41 seconds off his time to meet the qualification mark for the Olympics. His recent performance makes him India's best bet to make the cut, though a lot will depend on the work that the coach and his ward put in over the next few months.