Asian Games 2026: Sawan Barwal braves wind, drizzle to win India's first marathon medal in 44 years with national record

Sawan Barwal ran a stunning marathon to hand India an unexpected silver at the 2026 Asian Games, shattering his own national record in the process on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Armyman from Himachal Pradesh clocked 2 hour, 11 minute and 37 seconds to complete the distance of 42.195km and finish behind Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita (2:10:49). China's Peiyou Feng was third with 2:12:13.

His silver is the first medal for India in the Asian Games after the bronze won by Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan in the 1982 edition in New Delhi.

Barwal is also the fourth Indian to have ever won a medal in the Asian Games. Chhota Singh and Surat Singh Mathur had won a gold and bronze respectively in the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi.

It is an incredible achievement for Barwal as this is his second national record in as many races in his career. He shifted to marathon only this year after running in other long distance races such as 5,000m, 10,000m and half marathon.

In April this year, he broke Shivnath Singh's 48-year-old national record at the NN Marathon, Rotterdam, with a time of 2:11:58.

"The way I trained, the target was to finish with a medal, not to better my national record. But, it was also a national record. I am very happy to have won a medal for the country, that too after a long time (1982)," Barwal said after the gruelling race.

Running under a mild temperature of 21 degree celsius with a bit of wind and drizzle in between, Barwal was leading the pack for a while.

At the halfway mark, he had moved up to second place with a timing of 1:05:54. After the 35km mark, only the top three runners, including Barwal, were in the front.

"My target was to finish in the first group up to 39-40 km. So, I was in the first group and decided to finish in the last 1-2 km. I tried to stay with the group. In the last 38-37 km, there were just three runners. Around 37 km, the third one (runner) fell behind," he said.

"I tried to maintain the same pace. So, in the last 39-37 km, the Japanese were ahead. But the pace was fast, so I tried to keep up with my comfortable pace."

Hailing from Joginder Nagar in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, Barwal's father Kuldeep worked as a driver in New Delhi while mother Subhadra Devi is a homemaker.

Barwal has been a runner for over a decade, but his initiation to running happened by chance after a visit to a track near home. His elder brother was on the school's track team. Watching from the sidelines, he was roped in to train for 1500m at the age of 14.

His first national level event was in U18 category in 2015, a 3000m race. His first senior level race was in 2021 in the Federation Cup in 5000m. He won both the 5,000m and 10,000m gold in the 2025 National Games in Dehradun. In 2019, he joined his elder brother in the Army, under the sports quota.

The other Indian in the fray, Kartik Karkera, finished 17th with a time of 2:22:41.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed.)