New Delhi, Feb 22: India’s Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist, Gulveer Singh, etched his name in books on Friday at Boston University track by breaking the 13-minute barrier for the indoor 5,000m event and also improved his outdoor national record.

The Army’s 26-year-old distance runner on his way to a fourth-place finish at Terrier DMR Challenge indoor competition in Boston on Friday night also improved the Asian Indoor 5,000m record and achieved automatic qualifying standard to compete at the 2025 World Athletics Championships.

Gulveer clocked an impressive time of 12:59.77 seconds, a first by an Indian runner, to narrowly miss third place at the Terrier DMR Challenge indoor competition in Boston.

USA’s Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker sprinted home to gold. Hocker’s winning time was 12:57.82 while Cooper Teare was second at 12:57.97. Jack Rayner was third with a time of 12:59.43.

“My goal on Friday in Boston was to improve my personal best over the 5,000m,” Gulveer said after his record-breaking performance over the phone from Boston. “I’m happy that I’ve achieved a new milestone during the race.”

Gulveer's performance at Boston University was also better than the Asian indoor record of 13:08.41 set by Thailand’s Kieran Tuntivate in 2022 in Boston.

Gulveer’s personal best over 5,000m (outdoor) and national record of 13:11.82 seconds was clocked last year. He also clocked 27:14.88 for the 10,000m (outdoor) to improve his own national record last year in Japan.

On his way to fourth place finish in Boston, the Army’s ace distance runner also bettered the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships automatic qualification time of 13:01.00 for the 5,000m.

“My goal was to do my personal best in the race on Friday. I’m excited to have achieved the automatic entry standard for the World Athletics Championships in September,” the Asian Games bronze medallist added.

Last Friday, the army runner improved his personal best and national indoor 3000m track record during the David Hemery Valentine Invitational meet at Boston University track. His 3,000m indoor time was 7:38.26 seconds. “I’m thankful to the Sports Ministry and Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for international exposure ahead of the September 13 to 21 World Athletics Championships in Japan,” Gulveer added.

AFI president Bahadur Singh Sagoo said the early season performance of a core group of Indian distance runners based out of Colorado Springs in the USA augurs well for the future. “We are hopeful of good results in the coming outdoor season,” the AFI president added.

--IANS

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