Gulveer Singh breaks 16-year-old 10000m national record at The Ten 2024 athletics meet
Gulveer Singh became the first Indian to finish the 10000m in under 28 minutes but missed the Paris 2024 Olympic cut by a little over 41 seconds.
Athletics
Indian runner Gulveer Singh broke the longstanding national record in the men’s 10000m at The Ten 2024 athletics meet held in San Juan Capistrano in California, USA on Sunday.
With a time of 27:41.81, Gulveer finished second behind American Drew Hunter, who clocked 27:38.87. India’s previous national record in the event - 28:02.89 set by Surendra Singh in 2008 - had stood for close to 16 years.
Gulveer Singh’s effort was also the 37th-best Asian time. No other Indian makes the top-100 list. However, Gulveer Singh, who won the bronze medal at the Asian Games last year in the same distance, is yet to breach the entry standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics set at 27:00.00
Aaron Bienenfeld from Germany clocked 27:42.83 to finish third.
India’s Kartik Kumar, who finished ahead of Gulveer at the Asian Games to win a silver, also clocked under the previous national record with his new personal best of 28:01.90 to finish ninth.
Avinash Sable, who won the Asian Games gold medal in men’s 3000m steeplechase, logged a DNF (did not finish) in a separate men’s 10000m race at The Ten after pulling out on the 15th lap.
Parul Chaudhary finished 20th in the women’s 10000m race with a time of 32:02.08 to become the third-fastest Indian woman in this category. Despite setting a new personal best, she too failed to meet the Paris Olympics qualifying standard of 30:40.00.
In a different women’s 10000m race, Seema clocked a personal best of 32:07.67 to finish third. Sanjivani Jadhav finished fourth with 32:21.76 while Ankita crossed the finish line at 32:48.71 to secure eighth place. Both of them also registered personal bests in this event.