New Delhi: There is a growing sense of assurance that comes with distance runner Gulveer Singh in a race these days. That the Armyman will deliver a medal. He has the endurance, strong legs to carry him through 25 laps, a big heart, tactical nous and the sprint to fly down the home stretch—a quality Indian distance runners have lacked.
So, when the much-anticipated 10,000m final got underway with 13 runners at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Friday evening, it became clear within a few laps that Gulveer had positioned himself well for a medal. Only the colour of the medal remained to be seen.
Gulveer, 28, finished with a silver clocking 28mins, 27.51 secs, behind Birhanu Balew of Bahrain (28:27.51). Albert Kiptoo, also of Bahrain, took bronze (28:34.38).
For most of the race, Balew, Gulveer, Kiptoo, China’s Wenjie Wang and Japan’s Yoshii Yamato formed the lead pack. Balew, the Ethiopian born competing for the gulf nation, had won achieved a 10000m-5000m double in the 2023 Hangzhou Games. This time, Balew was tucked at third position, waiting to unleash his devastating finishing kick in the last lap.
Gulveer, following on the tactics he employed so successfully at the Commonwealth Games trusting his sprint finish that led to his 10000m silver and 5000m bronze, was steadfast in playing the waiting game behind later stages leader Kiptoo.
The dramatic chase began when the bell for the final lap rang. Gulveer took off, went past Kiptoo and grabbed the lead. Then Balew sprinted, rather exploded, and was simply too fast to even get close, despite Gulveer’s best effort.
Perhaps the Indian had held back his final surge a bit too late. Balew was flying in the last lap. For 24 laps, Balew and Kiptoo controlled the pace of the slow race. Nevertheless, it was an outstanding effort by Gulveer to claim silver. In the 2022 Asian Games, Gulveer took bronze. He has since improved a lot working out with African runners in the altitude training centre at Colorado Springs. The two CWG medals and the two gold medals at the Asian Championships shows his hunger for top international medals.
“It feels good to win a silver medal for India. We prepared for a championship race rather than focusing on timing, and I was able to stick to the race plan. This medal is encouraging, but I know there are more races ahead to focus on,” Gulveer said after the race.
“Championship races are always different from races where you’re chasing time. The plan was to stay relaxed, remain with the lead group, and make my move at the right moment. I trusted the race plan my coach and I had discussed, stayed patient and it worked out.”
Gulveer has also entered in the 5000m and 1500m, completing the full set of distance races. He was fourth in 5000m at Hangzhou. Expect him to compete hard.
Historic pole bronze
Baranica Elangovan won a surprise women’s pole vault bronze, a first for India in the event, men or women, at the Asian Games, a performance that sent cheers in the contingent. Baranica and Kazakhstan’s Polina Ivanova were both awarded bronze. They were tied third after both cleared 4.15m in the second attempt. Both failed at 4.25m, but could not be separated on count back as they had both cleared their first two heights on first attempt. Japan’s Misaki Morota took gold with a personal best of 4.55m and China’s Chunge Niu claimed silver (4.50m).
The 29-year-old Baranica, from Tamil Nadu, suffered an ACL injury in 2020, but has been taking impressive strides since her comeback. She has
twice set national records this year. She cleared 4.22m at the National Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in March and improved it to 4.23m at the Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault competition in May.
“This is incredible. I’m really happy to be able to bring a medal for my country. It’s my dream actually to write history and I did it today,” she was quoted by PTI as saying in Aichi-Nagoya. Sindhushree Ganesha, the other Indian in the fray, was eliminated without clearing a height.
Manpreet Kaur won bronze in women’s shot put with a throw of 17.17m in her fourth attempt. China made it a 1-2, Song Jiayuan clearing 19.40m and Zhang Lanru 18.14m. Krishna Jaysankar finished 5th with a best effort of 16.57. India have so far won five medals in track and field.
In 100m, Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur paled into elimination at the semi-final stage. Singh, the national record holder at 10.09s, clocked a poor 10.32s and came 5th in his semi heat, while Kujur was seventh (10.38s) in his. Thailand’s Purapol Boonson won the men’s 100m clocking a Games record 9.90s while China’s Chen Yujei took the women’s title, also with a Games record (11.06s).