A mere 23 seconds separated Indian elite marathon runner Gopi Thonakal from one of the longest standing national records at the Valencia Marathon 2025, held on December 7, 2025.

Thirty-seven-year-old Gopi finished the 42.2 kilometre marathon race in 2:12:23, just 23 seconds over the national record of 2:12 set by Shivnath Singh way back in 1978.

At Valencia, Gopi set a new personal record, a stupendous improvement from his previous best of 2:13:39, which he had achieved at Seoul Marathon 2019.

“My run at this year’s Valencia Marathon is my best performance in my marathon running career. I was able to achieve a PB (personal best),” he told this blog.

Gopi is among India’s leading marathon runners and the fastest in recent years. At the 2016 Mumbai Marathon, Gopi was assigned the role of a pacer for his colleagues from the Army. He ended up completing the marathon and securing a podium finish that year.

That run helped him to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, where he finished in 25^th position with a timing of 2:15:25.

In November 2017, Gopi became the first Indian to secure gold at the Asian Marathon Championships with a 2:15:48 finish. Gopi has secured many gold and other podium positions as an elite runner in many marathons in the country.

For the last six years, Gopi has been training in Bengaluru. This time around, he moved to Ooty for four months to train for Valencia Marathon. “I think the high altitude at Ooty helped my performance,” he said. Also, this time his training was tweaked  with a greater focus on endurance. Therefore, his training mileage was higher.

“At Valencia, the competition was good. Also, the course and the weather were quite good. That’s why I was able to do well and improve my performance,” Gopi said. Support from Indian Army and Reliance Group also contributed to his improved performance, he said.

During the race, at around 36 km mark, he developed cramps in his calves and had to pause twice. “If not for cramps, I could have got an even better timing,” he said.

Valencia Marathon is a popular marathon race mainly because the route is flat with very little turns, therefore a fast course. Also, the weather in December in Valencia is ideal for long-distance running.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.)

(With inputs from Valencia Marathon website, Anand Venkatraman)

(Photo courtesy: Gopi Thonakal)