Gulveer shatters Asian record, qualifies for World C'ships

India's Asian Games bronze medallist Gulveer Singh smashed the Asian Indoor 5000m record while also qualifying for the World Athletics Championships to be held later this year when he finished fourth in an indoor event in Boston, USA.

IMAGE: Gulveer Singh's performance on the Boston University track eclipsed the earlier Asian indoor 5000m record of 13:08.41s set by Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate in 2022. Photograph: Reliance Foundation/X

Gulveer clocked 12 minutes and 59.77 seconds to finish fourth at the Terrier DMR Challenge indoor competition in Boston on Friday and become the first Indian to run 5000m in sub 13 minutes.

His performance on the Boston University track eclipsed the earlier Asian indoor 5000m record of 13:08.41s set by Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate in 2022.

The entry standard for the 2025 World Championships (September 13 to 21) in Tokyo is 13.01.00.

The 26-year-old Armyman also bettered his own 5000m outdoor national record of 13:11.82 by more than 12 seconds.

Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair, however, said Gulveer's timing may not be considered as the outdoor national record.

"No doubt, it's an indoor national record and Asian indoor record at that. Athletes can run with faster time on outdoor tracks because of less number of turns (laps) as compared to indoor tracks.

"But, indoor timing may not be considered as outdoor national record, though Gulveer's indoor timing is better than even the outdoor," Nair said.

One lap of indoor track has a total distance of 200m whereas the length of an outdoor track is of 400m.

"My goal here (in Boston) was to improve my personal best over the 5,000m," Gulveer said after his record-breaking performance.

"I'm happy that I've achieved a new milestone during the race. I'm also excited to have achieved the automatic entry standard for the World Athletics Championships."

USA's Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker sprinted home to gold with a time of 12:57.82 while Cooper Teare was second with 12:57.97. Jack Rayner was third with a time of 12:59.43.

Gulveer also holds the national 10000m record of 27:14.88 which he had set at the Hachioji Long Distance meet in Japan last year.

Athletics Federation of India president Bahadur Singh Sagoo said early season performance of a core group of Indian distance runners based out of Colorado Springs in USA augurs well for the future.

"We are hopeful of good results in the coming outdoor season," Sagoo said.