Sawan Barwal shatters longest standing record in Indian athletics on Marathon Debut
Sawan Barwal, who is supported by the Reliance Foundation, shattered the longest standing record in Indian athletics on his marathon debut.
Sawan clocked a time of 2:11:58 at the NN Marathon Rotterdam, a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race on Sunday morning in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The long-standing National Record of 2:12:00, was set by Shivnath Singh on 28th May 1978 in Jalandhar.
For Sawan, this was his marathon debut, marking an important milestone in his career. He has now achieved the AFI qualification standard of 2:15:00 for the 2026 Asian Games.
View this post on Instagram
Participation in this marathon was aligned with Project 2:09, Reliance Foundation’s high-performance initiative within the Endurance Program, aimed at enabling Indian athletes to break the 2:10 marathon barrier through science-led training, structured international exposure, and race-specific execution strategies.
The Rotterdam Marathon serves as a key benchmark competition within the long-term pathway, supporting the broader objective of elevating India’s standards in global marathon running. Currently, Sawan Barwal, Gopi Thonakal, and Man Singh are part of this project, with Gopi, Sawan and Man having already achieved their personal best performances under the initiative.
Your Comments