Gulveer Singh Wins 5000m Bronze to Complete Asian Games Medal Hat-Trick

Gulveer Singh added a third medal to his Asian Games campaign on Tuesday, taking bronze in the men's 5000m final in Aichi-Nagoya. The Indian distance runner crossed the line in 13 minutes 32.75 seconds, finishing less than two seconds behind the winner in a tightly bunched race.

Bahrain's Birhanu Balew won gold in 13:30.79, while Japan's Tomonori Yamaguchi took silver in 13:31.43. Gulveer, who holds the Indian national record in the event, stayed in contention through the closing laps and held on for the final podium spot.

Three Events, Three Medals

The bronze completes a remarkable range of results. Earlier at these Games, Gulveer won silver in the 10,000m and then another silver in the 1500m, where he set a personal best of 3:36.72 behind Japan's Kazuto Iizawa. That 1500m result came during India's eight-medal day on Monday, which we covered in our Day 10 athletics report.

Winning medals across the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m at a single championship is unusual because the events demand very different racing. The 1500m rewards raw speed and tactical positioning, while the 10,000m is a test of sustained endurance over 25 laps. The 5000m sits between the two, and Gulveer's ability to medal in all three underlines his range.

A Place in India's Athletics History

With this bronze, Gulveer has become one of the very few Indian men to win three athletics medals at a single Asian Games. The best-known precedent is Lavy Pinto, who won gold in the 100m and 200m and silver in the 4x100m relay at the inaugural Asian Games in New Delhi in 1951. Because one of Pinto's medals came in a relay, Gulveer's haul stands out as three individual medals.

Among Indian women, KM Beenamol won three medals at the 2002 Busan Games, while PT Usha's four golds and a silver at Seoul in 1986 remain the benchmark for Indian athletes at a single edition.

A Strong Year for India's Top Distance Runner

The Nagoya results cap a strong stretch for Gulveer. Earlier in 2026, he won bronze in the 5000m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the first Indian to medal in that event at the Commonwealth level. He also won the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, last year.

Avinash Sable, who had also been entered in the 5000m, did not take part in the final.

A Busy Tuesday for India

Gulveer's podium was India's fourth medal of the day in Nagoya. Neeru Dhanda won gold in the women's trap event, and the Indian women's trap team of Neeru, Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer took silver. Boxer Narender Berwal secured bronze in the men's +90kg division after losing his semifinal to reigning world champion Aibek Oralbay of Kazakhstan.

For Indian athletics, which has supplied a large share of the country's medals in Aichi-Nagoya, Gulveer's consistency across three distances has been one of the defining stories of the Games.

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