Army’s elite marathon runner Nitendra Singh Rawat is back to winning ways, qualifies for Hangzhou Asian Games

India's 2016 Rio Olympic Games marathon runner Nitendra Singh Rawat is back to winning ways. The 35-year-old runner from the Indian Army on Sunday won the national marathon title with a time of 2:16:04.

Nitendra Singh Rawat’s gold winning time was better than the Asian Games qualifying standard of 2:18:48. The Birmingham Commonwealth Games marathon qualifying mark is 2:18:40 seconds.

The leading group of six athletes, all from the army, ran a well-judged pace to successfully crack both the Asian as well as the Commonwealth Games marathon qualifying standards on Sunday.

Army coach KC Ramu attributes good performance in the national marathon on Sunday to aggressive running from the 'word go', despite not-too-encouraging weather conditions.

Coach Ramu presented his assessment after the race.

“The pre-race strategy was to cover the marathon distance between 2 hours and 16 to 17 minutes. I’m excited that the athletes were able to execute the plan."

The leading group of six athletes, including Nitendra Singh Rawat, covered the first 10km in 32 minutes, 25 seconds. The pace was pretty fast considering the eventual goal was to clock a time of 2:16.

The leading bunch, however, slowed down in the second 10km, reaching the halfway mark of 21km in 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 10 seconds. But a negative split in the next 21km gave Rawat an edge over the others.

Rawat broke from the leading pack at the 36km mark. The Uttarakhand runner was the clear winner at the 39km mark. He further pushed the pace to cross the finish line at 2:16:04.

After winning the race, he expressed his joy in these words.

"I'm happy with my performance. I hope to improve my time in the coming months."

Post the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Rawat has been battling injuries and even skipped the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships. He gradually built himself up in 2021, finishing 22nd at the Boston Marathon.

Coach Ramu further added:

“Rawat’s Sunday performance in Delhi indicates he has regained his lost ground."

Army’s Anish Thapa and Anil Kumar Singh clocked 2:16:41 and 2:16:47 to finish second and third, respectively. Ashish clocked 2:17:04 to finish fourth while Belliappa AB crossed the line in 2:17:08 to finish fifth.

None of the women’s marathon runner were able to come close to the Asian Games qualifying time of 2:39:28.