Savan Barwal wins marathon silver, ends India's 44-year Asian Games wait
Army havildar Savan Barwal set a national record to win silver in the men's marathon at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
September 26 turned into a special day for India at the Asian Games 2026 being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. Indian Army soldier Savan Barwal won the silver medal in the men's marathon, setting a new national record in the process. The medal is especially significant because it is India's first marathon medal at the Asian Games in 44 years.
The 28 year old Barwal completed the 42.195 kilometre marathon in 2 hours 11 minutes 37 seconds. Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita won gold, finishing just 48 seconds earlier with a time of 2:10:49. China's Peyu Feng took bronze with a time of 2:12:13. Before this, India had last won a medal in the Asian Games marathon event in 1982.
Barwal's performance in the final race was full of ups and downs. He took an early lead but slipped to second place by the halfway mark. He regained the lead at the 21 kilometre mark, but began falling behind towards the end. In the last few kilometres of the race, Barwal made a strong comeback, overtaking several runners to finish with a time of 2:11:37 and claim the silver medal.
India's 44 year wait has finally ended. Before this, Hosur Kukkappa Sitaran had won bronze in the marathon for India at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. Barwal has become only the fourth Indian to win a marathon medal at the Asian Games. Earlier, at the first Asian Games held in Delhi in 1951, Chota Singh had won gold and Surat Singh Mathur had won bronze.
Barwal made his marathon debut this year after competing in the 5000 metres, 10000 metres and half marathon. In April, he broke Shivnath Singh's 48 year old national record of 2:11:58 at the NN Marathon in Rotterdam.
Savan Barwal, 28, is a long distance runner from Joginder Nagar in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district. He is a havildar in the Indian Army. Before running full marathons, Barwal used to compete in short track events. In April 2026, he broke the national record with a time of 2:11:58 in his very first marathon, the Rotterdam Marathon, also his debut race. In 2024, he won the national title in the 5000 metres, and at the 2025 National Games he won gold in both the 5000 metres and 10000 metres. But this Asian Games achievement is the biggest success of his career so far.
