Gopi, Monika defend titles in New Delhi Marathon

Reigning Asian Champion Gopi Thonakal ran his personal best to retain his title at the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon here on Sunday.

Gopi clocked 2 hour, 15 minute and 16 seconds to clinch the gold under ideal running conditions but missed the tough Commonwealth Games qualification mark set by the Athletics Federation of India.

“This was an opportunity where I needed to try hard and perform my best. I practiced and performed to my highest capabilities, but missed qualifying for the CWG by three minutes,” Gopi said.

“Both Nitendra and I were neck-to-neck until 9 kms, after which I took over. The weather conditions and the route were also quite favourable,” said Gopi, who plans to participate in international marathons like the London marathon to qualify for the Asian Games.

Nitendra Singh Rawat was second in 2:24:55 while Bahadur Singh Dhoni took the bronze in 2:24:56.

“Usually Gopi and I are head-to-head, but this time my body didn’t respond and adapt to the conditions. Despite good weather conditions, I wasn’t able to give my best and Gopi took the leap after the 9th kilometer,” Rawat said.

The 4:30am start time of the race at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, flagged off by cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, gave the runners an ideal temperature of just over 15 degree celsius — around 18 degree when the race ended — and Gopi was able to better his earlier best of 2:15:25 (clocked during 2016 Olympics) by nine seconds.

The 29-year-old Gopi’s effort was, however, well outside the 2:12:50 qualification standard of the AFI for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He had won the title last year in 2:15:37.