Asian Games 2026: Sawan Barwal creates history with marathon silver; ends India's 44-year drought
Sawan Barwal runs into history at the Asian Games 2026.
Sawan Barwal has ended India’s 44-year wait for an Asian Games marathon medal, and he’s timed it perfectly. The Indian Army havildar crossed the line in 2 hours 11 minutes and 37 seconds at Aichi-Nagoya on Saturday, taking silver and improving his national record from earlier this year.
Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita won gold in 2:10:49. Meanwhile, China’s Feng Peiyou took the bronze in 2:12:13. Barwal’s silver makes him only the fourth Indian in history to win a marathon medal at the Asian Games.
The three before him were Chhota Singh, who won gold at the very first Asiad in 1951 in New Delhi with a time of 2:42:58.6, Surat Singh Mathur, who took bronze at that same 1951 edition in 2:53:49.8, and Hosur Kukkappa Seetharam, who won bronze in 1982 in New Delhi with a time of 2:25:07.
Between Seetharam’s 1982 bronze and Barwal’s silver in Aichi-Nagoya, India had to wait 44 years to win its next men’s marathon medal at the Asian Games.
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Barwal comes from Radabhanker village in Joginder Nagar, in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, and was born on 18 February 1998. An Indian Army Engineering Corps serviceman, Barwal began his career as a half-marathon runner before moving up to the full distance on his mentor’s recommendation.
A debut marathon that almost went wrong
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His first attempt at the distance was dramatic enough on its own. At the Rotterdam Marathon on 12 April 2026, Barwal broke a national record that had stood for 48 years, set by Shivnath Singh in Jalandhar in 1978.
Barwal clocked 2:11:58, shaving just a couple of seconds off Singh’s previous mark of 2:12:00. What made it even more remarkable was that he fell around 150 metres from the finish line, got back up, and still held on to break the record, finishing 20th overall in that race.
Before that, he had already demonstrated his ability. In 2024, he set the national half-marathon record in Delhi with a time of 1:02.
He followed that up in April 2025 by winning gold in the 10,000m at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in Kochi, setting a new meet record. The performance earned him a place at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea.
What time did Sawan Barwal clock to win silver in the men’s marathon at the Asian Games 2026?
Barwal finished in 2 hours 11 minutes and 37 seconds, taking silver behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita, who won gold in 2:10:49. China’s Feng Peiyou took bronze in 2:12:13.
How long had India gone without a marathon medal at the Asian Games before Barwal’s silver?
44 years. India’s only previous marathon medals came in 1951, the first-ever Asian Games, when Chhota Singh won gold and Surat Singh Mathur won bronze, and in 1982, when HK Seetharam won bronze. Barwal is only the fourth Indian man to medal in this event at the Games
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