New Delhi: In 14 finals of varying statures and distances that Gulveer Singh has run this year, he has finished outside the podium only twice. Stats like these tend to paint a performance with a broad brush, but they also serve as an indicator of consistency. More so when some of those podiums have come at elite multi-sport quadrennial meets, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.
Gulveer, the most consistent Indian athlete over the past couple of years, followed his double-podium finish (10,000m silver and 5,000m bronze) at Glasgow CWG with a three-medal haul at the Asian Games in Japan.
The 28-year-old army man from Aligarh ran four races — including a 1,500m semi-final heat — in five days (Sept 25-29). The 1,500m silver stood out, while he took silver in 10,000m and came third in 5,000m, the two events he races regularly.
Gulveer became the first Indian athlete in 40 years to win three medals at one Asian Games. The last Indian to do that was PT Usha, who won five medals, four of them gold, in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games.
“I don’t care for the records. I don’t chase milestones. I just follow my coach’s (Scott Simmons) orders and run,” Gulveer told HT.
“I don’t get into race tactics or strategies a lot either. My coach puts me through the paces. He plans my competition and training schedules, and I just run.
“People remind me of the national records I have set, but honestly it doesn’t matter. Records are meant to be broken and someday mine will be broken too. As an athlete, all I focus on is the next race, and then the next. I just run. It’s an approach that has worked well for me so far.”
Gulveer, who holds the national records in 5,000m and 10,000m, ran the 1,500m only for the second time this year. “10,000m and 5,000m races don’t make me nervous because those are my main events, but I was under a lot of pressure going into the 1500m. You’re running for your country, the world is watching, and you haven’t run that distance a lot. There was so much self-doubt that I left everything to God and just ran,” he said.
Gulveer, who clocked an impressive 3:36.72 for the 1,500m silver, calls it his most satisfying result from Japan. His national records in the longer events are 12:59.77 and 27:00.22. However, at the Asian Games he clocked 13:32.75 in the 5,000m and 28:29.38 in the 10,000m, both proving tactically slow affairs.
“I was so relieved to win silver in the 1,500m. It is my most special medal from the Asian Games. I am not particularly pleased with my 5k and 10k results (both were slow races). I would have liked to win a gold. All three are very different races and need different rhythms.”
Gulveer, who trains in Colorado Springs, credited his stint alongside world-class runners for unlocking his potential.
“I had no competition in India. There’s no one to push me, so running at home offered no challenges.
“But in the US, I train with a very competitive group. There are elite runners from across the world, including World Championships medallists and Olympic medallists. Pushing them and being pushed by them helped me realise my potential. I know I can run faster times, which is why my 5k and 10k results in Japan don’t make me too happy. There’s World Championships next year and I hope to do better there,” he said.