Thonakal Gopi became the first Indian to win the Asian Marathon men’s title by triumphing in Dongguan, China, on Sunday.
The 29-year-old completed the distance in 2:15.48s, ahead of Uzbekistan’s Petrov Andrey (2:15:51) and T. Byambajav of Mongolia (2:16:14).
“The gold is certainly a surprise but I had expected a medal because when I saw the season best times here, I was among the top three,” Gopi told The Hindu from China.
“So, I knew I had a chance of getting a medal.”
So when did he realise that he could grab the gold, where was the turning point?
“We were an eight-runner bunch for a major part but with about two kms from the finish, we were about two or three and I pushed to win.
His personal best of 2:15.25s came at the Rio Olympics where he finished 25th and was 28th in the London Worlds this year.
His goal is to break Shivnath Singh’s national record (2:12.00s) set in 1978.
