Sawan Barwal created history at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, when he won the silver medal in the men’s marathon, media reports said. This is the first medal for India in Asian Games men’s marathon in 44 years.
Sawan won the silver medal with a new national record timing of two hours, 11 minutes and 37 seconds. He broke his own national record of 2:11:58, which he had set in April 2026 at N N Marathon Rotterdam.
At Nagoya, Sawan finished behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita, who won gold with 2:10:49 finish. Peiyou Feng of China took bronze with 2:12:13 finish.
India’s previous medal in Asian Games men’s marathon came in 1982 when Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan won bronze.
Kartik Karkera, the other Indian runner in men’s marathon, finished 17th in the race.
(Photos downloaded from Meta account of Athletics Federation of India)
Charlie Lawrence, Courtney Olsen of USA win men’s, women’s individual gold
US wins men’s team gold, Croatia wins women’s team gold
India’s Amar Singh Devanda once again shattered the national record in 100 kilometre run at the IAU 100 km World Championship held in Ames, Spain on September 20, 2026.
He crossed the finish line of the 100 km in six hours, 49 minutes and 17 seconds, smashing his own national record of 6:59:37 hours set at the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships held in November 2025 in Thailand. IAU is International Association of Ultrarunners.
Team India with Nadeem Khan, IAU President (centre)
At the Spain Championships, Amar finished in 23rd position among individual men, as per information on IAU website.
Amar Devanda with Santhosh Padmanabhan, India team manager and coach
Amar also holds the national record (282.881 km) for 24 hour run.
Amar said he adopted a conservative approach. “Initially, I found the run tough but my training helped me to do well,” he said. The fatigue of the IAU 24 hour run held in Japan in May this year did weigh down on him, he pointed out.
Amar Devanda with Nadeem Khan, IAU President
Among Indian runners, Geeno Antony finished in 7:17:58, a 10-minute improvement in his personal timing. Babu Gyan finished the run in 7:34:12. Saurav Kuman Ranjan had to drop out of the race due to illness.
“My training could have been better. Nevertheless, I managed to do a few ultra long runs,” Geeno told this blog. The run was tough because the weather was quite warm and the elevation along the 5 km loop was challenging, he said.
Geeno Antony (photo from another running event)
Individual performance
In the individual performance, Charlie Lawrence of the US won the men’s race with a timing of 6:09:25. World Record holder Aleksandr Sorokin of Lithuania finished with the silver with a timing of 6:12:41 and Alex Milne of Great Britain won the bronze with a timing of 6:17:50.
In the women’s individual performance Courtney Olsen of USA won gold with a finish of 7:10:31. Miho Nakata of Japan, who once held the national record, finished in 7:11:57 securing the silver and Gemma Alcazar won bronze with her finish of 7:17:50.
Team Performance
USA won the men’s team gold, Great Britain silver and France bronze. In the women’s team performance, Croatia won gold, Spain silver and Finland bronze.
(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)
