Asian Games 2026: Sawan Barwal Shatters National Record to Win Historic Silver in Men’s Marathon

Sawan Barwal clocked 2:11:37 to win India's first Asian Games marathon medal since 1982, setting his second national record in as many races.

Indian runner Sawan Barwal produced an extraordinary performance at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, claiming a historic silver medal in the men's marathon while setting a new national record.

The 28-year-old Army man from Himachal Pradesh completed the 42.195km distance in 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 37 seconds at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita took the gold medal with a time of 2:10:49, while China's Peiyou Feng secured bronze in 2:12:13. India's Kartik Karkera finished 17th with a time of 2:22:41.

Barwal's silver is India's first marathon medal at the Asian Games since Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan won bronze at the 1982 edition in New Delhi. He becomes only the fourth Indian athlete to earn an Asian Games marathon medal, joining 1951 medalists Chhota Singh (gold) and Surat Singh Mathur (bronze), alongside Seetharan.

Running under mild conditions of 21 degrees Celsius with occasional wind and drizzle, Barwal was leading the pack for a stretch and reached the halfway mark in second place with a split of 1:05:54. By the 35km mark, he had broken away with the top three runners before making his decisive push.

"The way I trained, the target was to finish with a medal, not to better my national record. But it was also a national record. I am very happy to have won a medal for the country, that too after a long time (1982)," Barwal said after the race.

He added: "My target was to finish in the first group up to 39-40 km. So, I was in the first group and decided to finish in the last 1-2 km. I tried to stay with the group. In the last 38-37 km, there were just three runners. Around 37 km, the third one (runner) fell behind. I tried to maintain the same pace. So, in the last 39-37 km, the Japanese were ahead. But the pace was fast, so I tried to keep up with my comfortable pace."

The performance marks Barwal's second national record in as many marathon starts since transitioning to the distance earlier this year from 5,000m, 10,000m, and half marathon races. In April, he broke Shivnath Singh's 48-year-old national mark at the NN Marathon in Rotterdam with a time of 2:11:58.

Hailing from Joginder Nagar in Mandi district, Barwal joined the Indian Army under the sports quota in 2019. He previously claimed gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m events at the 2025 National Games in Dehradun.

Reporting sourced from The Hindu Sport. Photo courtesy The Hindu Sport.