Indian Army’ 27 years old Asian Games bronze medallist in 10,000m became the first Indian to finish a creditable overall fifth in a world class field at Kolkata 25k.

The Asian champion in 5,000m and 10,000m track races, Gulveer Singh, exhibited brilliant speed endurance to set a national record at the Tata Steel World 25k, a World Athletics Gold Level event, on December 21 in Kolkata. The Asian Games bronze medallist finished a creditable fifth overall in a quality field, including Uganda’s Olympic and World Champion Joshua Cheptegei who claimed title with 1:11:49. Cheptegei was just 17 seconds ahead of Gulveer Singh, who posted a time of 1:12:06 to improve his own national record by nearly two minutes (1:14:10).

The Army runner’s outstanding performance at the season-ending road race hints at a productive 2026 season that features  two main multi-discipline events — the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. The inaugural edition of prize money World Athletics Ultimate Challenge will also take place next year.

Gulveer is the first Indian distance runner to hold national records over a wide range of distances from 3,000m indoor and outdoor track races to 25k road race. He also holds national 5,000m indoor and outdoor records and is the first Indian runner to break the 13-minute barrier for a 5,000m track race.

After a not so encouraging performance at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships held in September, Gulveer’s training came to a temporary halt due to a back pain. He skipped the Delhi half marathon in October, but showed remarkable recovery to bounce back in December. His first major race next year will be the World Cross Country Championships on January 10 in Florida, USA.

Going by his current form, he will be the one to watch in the USA event.

ENDS