New Delhi: The sight of a rain-drenched Gulveer Singh pushing himself hard at the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games will linger in the memory of Indian fans for long.
In high pressure races, when there is so much going on in the mind, it is all the more difficult to push oneself. I have mixed my races (from 1500m to the half-marathon) this year. Also, you need to recover well after these races,” said Gulveer, who won the 10000m bronze at the 2023 Asian Games.
“It takes a lot out of you to push yourself in such high-stakes races, and therefore I have worked harder on my endurance and speed.
Gulveer has improved by leaps and bounds since his Diamond League debut in Doha, and the Tokyo World Championships last year where he finished 16th in 10,000m and just missed qualifying for the 5000m final. “It was an exceptional performance from Gulveer in Glasgow. Throughout his training period he has shown the hard work, discipline and commitment required at the elite level. Gulveer himself has spoken about how it took a while for him to gain confidence training with other elite athletes. Understanding the conditions and the tempo of the race is equally important in distance running. In Glasgow, Gulveer could match the rhythm of the elite runners in the field and also push himself up when he felt he had fallen behind. “Running international races is completely different, especially medal races where there is so much at stake. Everyone comes with their own strategy and wants to run their own race. Medal races are slow. The finish is important and it is fast. If you run fast early, you will run out of breath.
“He has shown that he belongs to the top class,” said high-performance coach Scott Simons of the US, under whom Gulveer has been training in Colorado Springs. We have been working on his speed work, and it was good to see him putting that effort into a high-quality race,” Simons said. So, you have to assess your capacity and go along with the field,” Gulveer had told HT before the CWG.
