Indian men’s team win silver in IAU 50 k World Championship

Great Britain win gold in both men’s and women’s race

Indian men’s ultrarunning team won the silver medal at the IAU 50 km World Championships held in New Delhi on March 14, 2026.

Great Britain won the gold medal in both the men’s and women’s 50 km race at the Championships.

Great Britain’s men’s team had the fastest finish of eight hours, 20 minutes and 54 seconds. (Team’s standing is calculated by the aggregate time of the top three finishers of each country.)

In second place, was the Indian team with a combined timing of 8:52:07. United States won the bronze medal with a timing of 8:53:52.

In the women’s race, Great Britain won gold with a combined timing of 9:53:41, Poland silver (10:01:34) and Japan bronze (10:38:03).

The Indian team at IAU 50 K World Championships, Delhi (Photo downloaded from IAU Facebook page)

In the individual race, Alex Milne of Great Britain won men’s gold with a finish of 2:46:09. The women’s race was won by Naomi Robinson of Great Britain (3:13:40), as per information on IAU website.

The World Masters Athletics 50 k World Championships was also held concurrently with the IAU Championships.

Gulveer Singh runs half marathon in India’s fastest time

Timing may not be recognised as national record

Athlete Gulveer Singh ran the New York City Half Marathon in the country’s fastest finish timing of under 60 minutes on March 15, 2026.

Gulveer finished overall third at the race with a timing of 59:42 minutes.

Gulveer Singh (Photo is screenshot from Indian Athletics’ Instagram page)

He bettered the previous national record timing of 1:00:30 set by Avinash Sable at the 2020 edition of Delhi Half Marathon.

Media reports said Gulveer’s timings may not be considered as national record because the NYC course is not recognised for world and national records.

Gulveer Singh already holds the national record in 3000 metres, 5000 metres and 10000 metres, Indian Athletics said in an Instagram page.

Indian team for 2026 IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships Japan chosen

The Ultra and Trail Running Selection Committee of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has chosen the team of ultrarunners to represent the country at the IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships.

A total of 11 ultrarunners have been chosen by the Committee, AFI said in a note.

Women ultrarunners to represent the country at the championships are Aparna Choudhary, Shashi Mehta, Sunita Subba, Bindu Juneja, Tenzin Dolma and Mukesh Kumari.

The men’s team include Amar Singh Devanda, Saurav Kumar Ranjan, Geeno Antony, Velu Perumal and Sugourav Goswami.

Of these athletes, Sunita Subba holds the women’s national record for 24 hour run (217.327 km), which she set at the IAU 24 Hour World Championships held at Albi, France in October 2025.

Amar Singh Devanda holds the national record for 24 hour run (272.537 km), which he set at the IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships 2024 held in Canberra, Australia.

The 2026 Championships will be held on May 23 and 24 at Hirosaki, Japan.

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

(With inputs from IAU website and AFI website)