Gulveer Singh breaks 10,000m national record in Japan

India’s long-distance runner Gulveer Singh rewrote the national record for 10,000m on Saturday.

The 26-year-old athlete smashed his own national record while winning gold in the 2024 Hachioji Long Distance meet in Japan. Gulveer clocked an incredible time of 27 minutes and 14.88 seconds.

His previous national record stood at 27:41.81s which he had clocked on March 16 at The TEN event in San Juan, USA.

This was also the best Asian performance this year, with Gulveer overtaking Japan's Jun Kasai (27:17.46s).

This is not the first time Gulveer has broken the national records.

At the Japan athletics meet in September, he set a new benchmark in the 5,000m, clocking 13:11.82 seconds. In June, he surpassed Avinash Sable’s national record of 13:19.30 seconds set in 2023 at the Portland Track Festival, by clocking 13:18.92s.

Furthermore, in March 2023, Gulveer shattered the 10,000m national record with a time of 27:41.81 seconds during the Ten Track Meet in California. His latest feat in Japan has now lowered that record by an astounding 27 seconds.

Gulveer won the bronze medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games with a time of 28:17.21s. However, he failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics for which the qualification time was set at 27:00.00s.

In March this year, Gulveer broke the men’s 10,000m record at The Ten track meet in California. He clocked 27.41.81s and broke the second oldest record in Indian men’s track and field, surpassing Surender Singh’s old mark of 28.02.89, set nearly 16 years ago in 2008.