Kartik Kumar was a touch disappointed at the Hangzhou Asian Games despite ending India’s 25-year wait for a medal in the men’s 10,000m. The Army man took silver, but he had more ambitious plans.
“I was happy to end the wait and win silver at my first Asian Games, and the reception on returning too has been overwhelming. But I also wanted to break the national record,” said Kartik, who was followed home by compatriot Gulveer Singh. Both set personal bests while winning India’s first 10,000m medals since Gulab Chand’s bronze at 1998 Bangkok.
Kartik clocked 28 minutes, 15.38 seconds, while Surendra Singh’s national mark is 28:02.89, set in Vigo in 2008. “Initially I thought I would be able to push for it but towards the end my legs started giving up. But I am sure I will be able to break the mark. I don’t have a set date, but hopefully in the coming months,” said Kartik, who hails from Shimlana village in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district.
Kartik is on course. The 24-year-old improved his PB by 39 seconds in Hangzhou. The Havildar in the Jat Regiment found that extra burst of speed following a three-month training stint at the altitude of Colorado Springs under coach Scott Simmons. He, along with India’s other core group of distance runners attended the camp from July to September, reaching Hangzhou directly from the United States.
“That stint really helped me. There were a lot of Kenyan athletes too who were easily able to run 10,000m in 27 minutes while our record is 28,” Kartik, who belongs to a family of sugarcane farmers, said.
“Training with them helped a lot. At the start (of the runs), we stayed with them but they were able to pull away at the end. While our pace goes up and down, theirs is consistent. Their capacity to push is much superior. If you train with superior athletes, you are only going to improve.”
Kartik will switch from track to road on Sunday when he competes in the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon here. This will be Kartik’s first half-marathon since he finished second behind Avinash Sable in the same event in 2022 clocking 64 minutes, his personal best. This year, he is a favourite among the elite Indian runners while Sable is not running.
He isn’t confident he can better his personal best.
“I will try, but it will be difficult. Ever since I returned to India, I have been attending felicitation programmes, because of which I haven’t had much time to train.”
Kartik will face competition from Abhishek Pal, Murali Kumar Gavit, Srinu Bugatha, Kalidas Hirave and Durga Bahadur in the Indian elite category.
Asked if he will find it tough to switch to the longer distance in just two weeks, Kartik replied: “I am in the Army. Running 25-30km daily is a normal thing for us.”
Kartik took up running because of the Army. Candidates needed to be 170cm tall, but he was two centimetres short. But he learnt that a concession of 2cm is given to athletes. “I was always a good runner in my village since childhood. When I got to know about the concession, I started running in national competitions because of which I was recruited in 2019,” said Kartik, who is due a promotion after his Hangzhou performance.
Kartik is due to run in an Army 10km cross-country event in Ranikhet before taking part in the National Games in Goa, scheduled from October 26 to November 9.
