New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) Asian Championships medallist Indian distance runner Abhishek Pal has set his sights on shattering the half marathon national record by completing the distance in under one hour.
The 27-year-old, who returns to defend his title at the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, wants to better the current national mark of 1:00:30 seconds which is under steeple chaser Avinash Sable’s name.
Pal, who fetched the 10,000m bronze at the Asian Athletics Championships last year, currently has personal best of 1:04:07 in half marathon.
“My target is to get 59:59s,” Pal told PTI on the sidelines of a Vedanta Delhi Half Marthon event.
“But that takes time to achieve. I want to get there by 2028. I will try every year to improve, starting with the Half Marathon. I am the defending champion here so I want to better my time,” he added.
To improve his timings, Pal is working on improving his endurance for the 10,000m and 5,000m events by competing in road events.
“I am, trying to improve my endurance level to get a better time as endurance is the main thing for long distance. I’m also working on my strength,” he said.
“Marathons and half marathons help me better my endurance and also boosts my confidence.” With the Asian Championship and World Championships scheduled for next year, the Uttar Pradesh athlete from the Indian Army also aims to register new national records in the 10k and 5k events.
“Next year there is Asian Championship and world championship but right now the season is ending so we are focussing on road events. I want to get national records in 10k and 5k also. If we do well then the coming generation will aim to do better than us,” he said.
Pal believes that witnessing the successes of double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, as well as the remarkable performances of Sable and the men’s 4x400m relay team on the global stage, serves as a powerful source of inspiration for fellow Indian athletes to strive for excellence.
“It’s great that Indian athletics has started doing well on the global stage. Even I tried to qualify for the Paris Olympics but due to injury I was not able to. But we also want to great things for the country.” “When we see Neeraj bhai doing well, he used to stay with us, he was my room partner so we think we should also do better, fight for medals at global level.
And that will happen. It will take some time in long distance events but it will happen. It’s our target that we want to show that Indians can also do well in running.” Sable has emerged as a standout performer in track events, clinching gold in the 3000m steeplechase and silver in the 5000m at the Hangzhou Asian Games, along with a silver in the 3000m steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games.
He made history as the first Indian man to qualify for the men’s 3000m steeplechase final at the Paris Olympics and also reached the prestigious season-ending Diamond League final.
Pal believes that every achievement by an Indian athlete serves as a benchmark for future generations, inspiring them to surpass those milestones.
“It’s great that Avinash Sable won a medal in the Commonwealth Games and then qualified for the Olympic finals. so now that he made final the target has moved on to making the top 6 and then a medal,” he signed off. PTI APA APA KHS
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.