Gulveer Singh Completes a Medal Hat-Trick With 5000m Bronze

Gulveer Singh won bronze in the men's 5000m at the Asian Games on Tuesday, finishing in 13:32.75 — his third medal of the tournament, after silvers in the 10,000m and the 1500m. Three individual distance events, three medals.

Bahrain's Birhanu Balew won gold in 13:30.79, with Japan's Tomonori Yamaguchi just behind for silver in 13:31.43. Gulveer was barely a second off the podium's top step himself, finishing 13:32.75 — a tight finish across all three medal positions.

It completes a turnaround from Hangzhou 2023, where he narrowly missed a medal in this same event. This time he leaves Aichi-Nagoya with three.

Gulveer, 28, is a Naib Subedar in the Indian Army from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, who joined the forces through the sports quota in 2018. He moved to Colorado Springs in 2024 to train under American coach Scott Simmons, and has since taken the national record in the 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m and the 25km, plus becoming the first Indian to run a sub-60-minute half marathon.

Before the Games, he'd put his approach plainly: "When you stand on the starting line, there is only one thought in your mind — to win a medal for the country. Everyone works equally hard, and on race day, it all boils down to whose body holds up better."