Sawan Barwal Breaks 48-Year-Old National Marathon Record
Sawan Barwal delivered a sensational performance at the Rotterdam Marathon 2026 on Sunday, breaking the 48-year-old Indian national marathon record held by Shivnath Singh.
The long-distance runner clocked a time of 2:11:58 and finished 20th in the race. He surpassed Shivnath Singh’s 2:12:00 record set in 1978 in Jalandhar by 0.42 seconds.
Shivnath Singh’s record had remained the longest-standing national athletics record in India for nearly five decades.
With this achievement, the men’s marathon national record has been broken, making PT Usha’s 1984 women’s 400m hurdles record the longest-standing national athletics record in India. It was equaled after 39 years in 2023 by Vithya Ramraj.
The Rotterdam Marathon was Sawan Barwal’s second competitive event of the year after participating in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, where he finished 60th.
Olympian Thonakal Gopi also participated in the event and finished 23rd with a timing of 2:13:16.