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Tenzin Dolma, Amar Devanda rewrite national records in women’s, men’s 24-hr run

  • India clinches men’s individual, team gold; women’s team gets bronze at IAU Asia Championships Japan
  • Geeno Antony gets individual silver, Saurav Ranjan bronze

Ultrarunners Amar Singh Devanda and Tenzin Dolma of India smashed the individual national records in men’s and women’s 24-hour ultrarun at the IAU 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships 2026 held at Hirosaki, Japan, on May 23-24, 2026.

The Indian men’s team also topped the charts and secured a gold medal in the event and the women’s team finished with bronze medal, IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) said in its website. Indian male ultrarunners covered a combined distance of 815.833 kilometres to win the gold medal. (The total of the first three leading runners of a team is considered for the ranking as per IAU rules).

This is the third time that Indian male ultrarunners as a team have emerged champions in IAU events, the previous two times being in 2022 and 2024.

At the Hirosaki event, Amar broke his own national record of 272.537 km set in April 2024, to set a new national record of 282.881 km.

In the women’s run, India’s Tenzin Dolma smashed the previous national record of 217.327 km set by Sunita Subba in France in 2025, to set the new record of 228.939 km. Tenzin finished in the fourth position among women runners.

At Hirosaki, the national record for 12-hour run for both men and women were rewritten, according to Santhosh Padmanabhan, the manager and coach of the Indian ultrarunning team.

Indian men swept the individual podium positions winning the gold, silver and the bronze medals. Geeno Antony secured silver medal with a distance of 272.894 km and Saurav Ranjan the bronze with a distance of 260.058 km.

In the women’s individual race, Miho Nakata of Japan won the gold with a distance of 261.170 km. She had briefly held the world record of 270.363 km for women’s 24-hour run before it was broken by Sarah Webster of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (278.622 km) at the IAU World Championships, France, 2025.

Amar Singh Devanda (Picture from another event)

The individual silver medal was won by two Australian runners – Jenny White and Carrie Geeson – who crossed the 24-hour duration with a distance of 241.229 km each.

Out of the 11 athletes from India, eight runners were able to secured new personal bests, Santhosh said.

Tenzin Dolma (Picture from another event)

Team Performances

In the women’s team performance, Japan won the gold covering a combined distance of 707.357 km. Australia won the silver with a distance of 684.450 km and India won the bronze with a distance of 667.722 km.

In the men’s team performance, Japan secured the silver medal with a combined distance of 754.726 km and Australia the bronze with a distance of 732.525 km.

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

(Inputs from IAU Website) 

(Photos courtesy Indian team)

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At a Glance – March 2026

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)