Army-trained Kartik Kumar’s journey from burning leather off his shoes on village grounds to Asian Games silver | Asian-games News
Veer Singh still remembers how his second-eldest son, Kartik Kumar, would run at the 200m sand track at the Maharana Pratap Inter College grounds at their village Shimlana, 30 km from Saharanpur, to prepare for the Army recruitment rallies in 2015. While Kumar would not be eligible for the recruitment due to his young age, he would run 40 laps of the 200m track along with other army aspirants.
On Saturday evening, 24-year-old Kartik ran his personal best with a timing of 28 minutes and 15.38 seconds followed his teammate, 25-year-old Gulveer Singh, who clocked his personal best with a timing of 28 minutes and 17.21 seconds to hand India a horic silver in the men’s 10,000m at the Hangzhou Olympics Centre Stadium at the Asian Games. It was India’s first medal in men’s 10,000m since Gulab Chand’s bronze medal in 1988.
“Daudne ka itna junoon tha ki kabhi kabhi toh ladka bhej ke Kartik ko wapis bulana padhta tha running se (Kartik had so much passion for running that sometimes we would have to send somebody to bring him back from the school track). The only thing on his mind was how to cross the timing for the run during the Army recruitment rally once he was eligible. To win the silver for India will make Kartik remember all those runs today,” says father Veer Singh while talking with The Indian Express.
Long wait. Gulab Chand had won bronze in 10,000m at 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. https://t.co/BNtKCDi2Ny
— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) September 30, 2023
While he would occasionally train at the Dr Ambedkar Stadium in Saharanpur to prepare for long-dance races, it was not until 2016 that the young Kartik gained recognition on the national circuit. A 3000m silver medal in the Junior Nationals at Kozhikode led to a path to the Indian junior team. Kartik would win a bronze medal in the 10,000m event in the Asian Junior Championship with a timing of 30 minutes and 5.30 seconds before finishing 12th in the World U-20 Championships in 2018.
“Prior to him making it to the Indian junior team, Kartik would always train at the village with Goldstar and Rasics shoes costing Rs 700-800. At that time, it was tough to manage the shoes for our father since Kartik would tear down his shoes in a very short time. Once he got into the Indian team and Indian Army, he did not have to worry about shoes,” says elder brother Sonu Kumar.
In 2019, Kartik was spotted Amrish Kumar, the Indian Army’s chief running coach, at the Federation Cup in Patiala. Kartik had then given his personal best timing of 29 minutes and 51.28 seconds to finish sixth in the 10,000m event. The next three years saw him returning with his then-personal best timing of 29 minutes and 42.63 seconds in 2021 apart from winning the gold at this year’s Federation Cup with a timing of 29 minutes and 20.21 seconds and his personal best of 28 minutes and 55 seconds at the National Games in Gujarat.
Family members of Kartik Kumar celebrate at their village near Saharanpur in UP. (Express photo)
“Initially when he started training under us, we would make him and Gulveer run 120 km per week, and increase that to 150 km per week. Once they understood the importance of setting the right pace, we also worked on the other technical aspects of long-dance running. They would always have a time of 3.8 minutes per km for some time before they broke the 3.2 minutes per km mark. But to develop the race strategies according to the runners took some time. They have trained at Pune, Ooty, Hyderabad, and recently in Colorado, and running in different conditions and with different runners has helped them” shares Kumar.Most Read
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Prior to the race on Saturday, Kartik had his personal best of 28 minutes and 55 seconds and Singh had his personal best of 28 minutes and 54.29 seconds. The Indian duo remained on the sixth-seventh spot for the major part of the race before a fall Japanese Shiojiri Kazuya and two other runners in the top six in the penultimate lap. As the other Japanese Ren Tazawa fell behind, Kartik overtook Singh in the last 50m to win the silver medal behind Balew Yemataw of Bahrain.
Kartik was also in praise for Aligarh-born Grenadier Singh apart from Jat Regiment’s Kumar. “They maintained their tempo according to their strength till the first 22 laps. Both of them know each other and train together so they also take advantage of running alongside each other. When the Japanese fell, they made sure that they didn’t tumble or it came in their way and once they were in the top four, it was only a matter of who managed to pick the pace in the end. Kartik’s finishing is very strong and he displayed that today and Gulveer too did not let the other Japanese cross him,” says Kumar.
Father Veer Singh knows what his Subedar Major son will bring for the village on his return from China. “Kartik spends his time at the village track when he comes home. He will be bringing some shoes and other kits for the village kids to celebrate his medal with them,” says Singh.
