Mumbai: Three a long time into his triple leap world document of 18.29m from the 1995 World Championships, Jonathan Edwards had this to say to BBC this month about it remaining untouched: “I don’t assume it’s an excellent signal for athletics as a sport that you’ve got a document that stands for 30 years.”
Each phrase of that sentence might additionally properly apply to the boys’s marathon nationwide document in India. Besides, that mark goes a lot additional again.
The late Shivnath Singh’s marathon nationwide document of two:12:00 set in 1978 in Jalandhar nonetheless stands the check of time. As per Athletics Federation of India (AFI) knowledge, it stays the longest standing nationwide mark, with PT Usha’s 400m hurdles document of 1984 additionally equalled in 2023.
Two of the nation’s distinguished marathon races, in Mumbai and New Delhi, had Indian winners clock timings across the 2:17 and a couple of:15 mark. It’s just about the place India’s male marathoners have been caught during the last 5 years, after Gopi T got here near the nationwide mark when he clocked 2:13:39 on the 2019 Seoul Marathon.
In an occasion the place international runners are continually pushing the brink – Kelvin Kiptum set the present world document of two:00:35 in 2023 earlier than his premature dying aged 24 – the Indians have stagnated for fairly some time.
“For nearly a decade, Indian marathon has been caught in a loop – one which hovers across the 2:15 mark,” stated Nitendra Singh Rawat, the 2016 Rio Olympian with a private finest of two:16:05.
A obvious ailment to that loop not breaking for an even bigger leap, concur athletes and coaches, is the dearth of a core group of marathoners coaching collectively.
Surinder Singh Bhandari, India’s famend distance runner turned coach, recalled having a bunch of 10-12 runners coaching just below him between 2014 to 2016. Three of them – Gopi, Kheta Ram and Rawat – certified for the Rio Video games the place the primary two clocked PBs within the 2:15s. For final yr’s Paris Olympics, no Indian marathoner made the reduce. This yr, AFI added to the decentralisation by taking out long-duration nationwide camps.
“These days, marathoners are scattered. And camps have additionally been executed away with. For lengthy distances, coaching in a single place below one coach with a correct group helps,” stated Bhandari.
“When the three of us educated collectively, we pushed one another,” stated Kheta Ram (PB 2:15:26) of the Rio trio. “Now most prepare on their very own.”
Rawat stated: “Ideally, 10-12 runners needs to be recognized, supported and clubbed into a bunch to coach collectively. The main target needs to be on a bunch, moderately than people.”
That group, in line with each Olympic marathoners, would additionally profit from a prolonged coaching block outdoors India. Each cited the instance of Gulveer Singh, who rewrote the 5,000m and 10,000m nationwide information final yr, coaching in USA’s Colorado Springs the place India’s different distance runners together with Avinash Sable had been additionally based mostly. Sable, at the moment out injured, was later based mostly in Bengaluru.
“We used to have weekly follow plans. Perhaps in a rustic with higher marathoners, they make month-to-month programmes. We have to exit and perceive such issues,” stated Kheta Ram.
AFI has, over the previous couple of years, despatched India’s race walkers and relay groups for coaching blocks overseas.
“We have to spend 5-6 months coaching with runners within the 2:05-2:10 area, irrespective of the nation. We’ve got to look at the coaching strategies and expertise developments of these higher teams and international locations,” Rawat stated.
Marathoners of these higher international locations have been aided by developments in sneakers and working gear, which has not solely challenged the world benchmark steadily but additionally upped qualification requirements. On the 2019 Mumbai Marathon, Rawat’s timing of two:15.52 was sufficient to clear the 2019 World Championships qualifying reduce. For subsequent month’s Tokyo Worlds, that reduce is 2:06:30.
The fast-evolving tremendous sneakers might have modified the tempo of marathon working, but it hasn’t translated to sooner occasions in India.
“Sneakers have made a big effect general,” stated Kheta Ram. “For Indians, they are often costly. Some can afford it, however even for them it hasn’t impacted timings to that extent.”
“In India,” stated Bhandari, “athletes can win medals and rewards with a timing of two:15 or so. And most are joyful to be in that consolation zone.”
It comes again to that loop, the place Indian marathon lies in peril of retreating.
“We must get out of that loop quickly,” stated Rawat.
