Pushing the limit to go the distance

Gulveer Singh’s powerful final-lap surge clinched India’s first gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea last week. The 27-year-old stunned spectators with his explosive strides, leaving rivals far behind in the 10,000m race.

That dramatic sprint to the finish was no accident — it was the result of months of intense training. First, at the High Altitude Center in Ooty with coach Yunus Khan, and later in Colorado Springs, USA, under coach Scott Simmons.

“The aim at competitions has been about finishing strong irrespective of the time,” said Gulveer, who has broken the 10,000m national record three times in the last 12 months apart from setting new national marks in the 5,000m and 3,000m during the same period. 

“I have been working a lot on speed drills and I’m happy to be converting it into results at major events. It is always a nice feeling to win medals for the country at international competitions.” 

Gulveer clocked 28:38.63 in the 25-lap 10,000m before timing 13:24.77, a new championship record, in the 12.5-lap 5,000m for his second gold on the penultimate day of the once-every-two-year bash. Though his effort in the 10k was way below his personal best of 27:00.22, the top of the podium finish sealed his World Championship berth in the longer race after having booked his ticket to Tokyo by breaking the 13-minute barrier in 5k in February. 

Speaking about Gulveer’s steady performance thus far, coach Yunus credited his wards training partners at Colorado. “He trains with athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia and Morocco in the USA every day. That automatically improves his standards in terms of running as well as mentality,” said the Army Sports Institute coach. 

With his goals for the first half of the season all successfully checked, Gulveer is now enjoying a much-deserved break - that will last all of seven days before he heads back to Colorado to resume training. 

However, ‘rest’ for an endurance athlete always implies less and never no training. 

“It has been more than six months since I came home,” said Gulveer, a Reliance Foundation athlete, in a telephonic conversation with DH from Sirsa village in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. 

“But coach Yunus has given me 30-45 minutes of light running schedule to be followed every morning and evening until I’m here,” he added from his residence where the brand new double gold medals are hung among his big collection of accolades.

The long distance runner’s second half schedule of 2025 has Diamond Leagues in Europe and a few domestic meets following the Tokyo WC. Probe him about his plans for these seven days before leaving to start his journey around the world again and Gulveer said: “Ghumne keliya kaha jaunga? Itna bahar ghum raha hoon, iske baad idhar kya ghumunga?” (I have been travelling around so much, why will I roam around here too? I just want to spend time staying at home).