Gulveer Singh breaks 16-year-old national record in 10000m; fails to make the cut for Paris Olympics
Asian Games 2023 bronze medalist Gulveer Singh impressed the onlookers as he broke a 16-year-old national record in 10,000m. He finished second in his heat at The Ten 2024 event in San Juan Capistrano in California on Saturday (March 16).
Gulveer recorded a timing of 27:41.81 on Saturday to shatter the earlier record by 20 seconds held by Surendra Singh in 2008, who clocked 28:02.89. However, the 25-year-old missed the Paris Qualification mark of 27:00.00 by 41 seconds. American athlete Drew Hunter crossed the finish line with a timing of 27:38.87 to come first.
Another Indian, Kartik Kumar finished the race with a timing of 28:01.90 to finish in the ninth position. Surprisingly, Kartik also breached the national record of Surendra.
Avinash Sable, who was competing in the same heat, pulled out mid-way in the 15th lap at the 6,000 mark.
Meanwhile, Parul Choudhary finished in 20th position, while clocking 32:02.08 in the Women's 10,000m. Although, Choudhary became the third-fastest Indian woman in this category, she missed the Paris Qualification mark of 30:40.00.
In a different 10,000m race, Seema finished third with a timing of 32:07.67. Sanjivani Jadhav and Ankita recorded timings of 32:21.76 and 32:48.71 to finish fourth and eighth, respectively.
List of Indian players (Athletics) qualified for Paris Olympics
Until Saturday (March 16), a total of 13 players have qualified from India to take part in the Athletics events of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Seven athletes breached the Paris Qualification mark in the Men's 20 km race walk. Namely, they are Akshdeep Singh, Vikas Singh, Paramjeet Bisht, Suraj Panwar, Servin Sebastian, Arshpreet Singh, and Ram Baboo.
However, out of them, a maximum three can be sent to the Olympics by the national federation. Meanwhile, Priyanka Goswami met the qualification standard in the Women's 20km race walk.
Murali Sreeshankar also qualified for Men's long jump, Avinash Sable in Men's 3000m steeplechase, Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena in Men's javelin throw, and Parul Choudhary in Women's 3000m steeplechase.