Sawan Barwal’s achievement is all the more remarkable considering he was making his marathon debut in Rotterdam, having only switched to the event five months ago.  | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

With just 100 metres to go before the finish line of the Rotterdam Marathon on Sunday morning, Sawan Barwal was close enough to see the digital clock atop the finishing gate. The display flashed ‘2:09.50.’

In that moment, Barwal later recalled, he felt that if he had pushed harder, he might have completed the 42.195 km race in just over 2:10:00. He knew that would be more than enough to create history. The Indian marathon record of 2:12:00, set by Shivnath Singh in 1978, had stood untouched for nearly half a century. Barwal looked set to smash that mark.

The 28-year-old, who until last year specialised in the 5000m and 10000m and had not won an international medal over those distances, did not seem particularly challenged while running his first marathon. He had been on pace for a 2:09:14 finish at the 35km mark, usually when inexperienced runners begin to feel the full weight of the marathon distance. Although a sudden gust of wind and drop in temperature slowed him slightly, he remained on track for a record finish.

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Then, with the finish line in sight, as he pushed himself close to his limit, his body gave way. Barwal blacked out, stumbled and collapsed on the road. He picked himself up slowly, only to fall again, as seconds ticked by agonisingly.

A race volunteer ran up to him and helped him onto his unsteady feet. Barwal staggered towards the finish line.

“Until the last hundred meters, he was averaging three minutes and four seconds for every kilometre. That last hundred meters took him a minute and a half. He was almost walking at that point,” his coach Ajit Markose, who was watching helplessly from the sidelines, told this publication.

Barwal ultimately crossed the finish line in 2:11:58. It was enough to break the oldest record in Indian athletics, even if only by two seconds.

When Sportstar reached out to Barwal after the race, the final minutes were initially a blur. As he recovered, he recounted a finish that felt almost cinematic.

“Today’s marathon was a tough but memorable experience. I felt strong and in control until around 40km. I was progressing at a 2:09 expected finish time, but the last two kilometres didn’t go as planned. I even fell twice. But I’m proud that I kept getting up and finished the race. I’m thankful to the volunteer who helped me get back up and continue. I’m extremely proud to have broken the 48-year-old national record, even if it’s by a small margin. That means a lot to me,” Barwal told Sportstar through text message after the race.

Running for fun

Breaking a record that was already nearly two decades old when he was born was not always a goal for Barwal. Growing up in the village of Radabhanker in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, he did not begin with lofty ambitions. It is common to find runners pounding mountain trails early in the morning in this region, often in preparation for Army recruitment.

Barwal, however, was not even thinking along those lines.

“A lot of children from my area run because they want to prepare for Army bharti (recruitment). But when I started running in school, it was just because I enjoyed it. At first, I was just happy to run. Then slowly, as I improved, my goals got bigger. I wanted to win a school medal, then a district medal, then a state medal, then a national medal, and eventually become an international athlete. Every time I won a medal, I kept thinking about what I could accomplish next,” Barwal told Sportstar.

“I first started running seriously when I was in Class 8. I was introduced to this by my coach. I wasn’t thinking much about the future. I ran because it helped focus my mind and gave me a goal to chase,” he said.

It soon became clear that Barwal had talent. He started as an 800m runner and progressed from the school level to the state and eventually the national level. In 2015, he finished fourth in the men’s 3,000m at the Under-18 National Championships. He had not medalled, but it was enough to keep him in the sport.

Natural ability

Barwal, despite not harbouring ambitions of joining the military, was recruited by the Army the following year. He is currently a havaldar with the Engineering Corps. His coaches there quickly recognised where his strengths lay.

“When we were deciding on recruiting athletes, we performed a VO2 max test on Sawan. His VO2 max reading was 78. That’s really high. The very elite Kenyan runners have a VO2 max of between 75 and 85. So we knew Sawan had potential in long-distance running,” Army chief athletics coach Younis Khan, who has trained Barwal at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, explained.

For all his physical ability, Barwal had to wait another five years to win his first medal, a silver in the 10,000m at the National Open Athletics Championships in 2022.

The following year, his first international honour came, a bronze medal at the Asian Half Marathon Championships.

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Despite progressing steadily in long-distance track events, Barwal initially held off on moving to the marathon.

“The first time I thought about running in the marathon was in 2023. But because we had the Asian Games that year and because I had already done well in the 5,000m, I thought I should stick to that distance,” Barwal said.

He continued to perform well in the 5,000m and 10,000m, winning gold in the latter with a personal best at last year’s National Games and later at the Federation Cup. But his coaches continued to nudge him towards the marathon.

“Last year, Scott Simmons (who had previously coached Commonwealth Games medallist Avinash Sable and currently coaches Gulveer Singh, Indian national record holder in the 5000m and 10000m) suggested I try the marathon. I thought it might be a good chance to qualify for the Asian Games, so I decided to make the move,” Barwal said.

Gradual shift

The transition was not seamless. Two months into marathon preparation, Barwal, who trains under Markose as part of the Reliance Foundation Athletics programme, suffered a fall during a run.

“I was supposed to make my marathon debut last year, but because of the fall, I had to give up that plan,” he recalled.

This season, at the Rotterdam Marathon, the goal was to break the national record. Several senior runners felt the plan was too ambitious, but Barwal remained confident.

“Because the record has stood for so long, a lot of runners think we can’t even train to run that fast. Many older runners told me this. But I didn’t think this time was that difficult,” he said.

In recent years, several runners have come close. Barwal’s Army teammate Gopi Thonackal ran 2:12:12 at the Valencia Marathon last year, while Kartik Karkera clocked 2:13:10 at the New Delhi Marathon earlier this year. While they came close, it was Barwal who finally broke through in Rotterdam.

Despite his dramatic finish, both Barwal and his coaches believe he could have done better.

“Sawan’s goal before the race was to run at least 2:10:00 and even up to 2:09:00. But he was making his marathon debut. He didn’t have the experience to deal with situations where the body tightens up at the end or when conditions change suddenly. The more he runs, the better he will get,” Younis said.

There will be more opportunities. With his current time, Barwal has met the Athletics Federation of India’s qualification standard for the Asian Games (2:15:14).

Before Rotterdam, Barwal had already set his sights on that target.

“I don’t think it’s enough to break the record. The Asian standard is really high. I have to reach there,” he said.

That ambition remains unchanged.

“It’s a good feeling to get the national record, but this isn’t the standard we wanted. Sawan is going to keep improving. The goal is to run below 2:10:00. He’s capable of doing this,” Markose said.

Published on Apr 12, 2026