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Editor’s note: I sure hope that you are enjoying our column on Athletics in India. Rupinder Singh writes new pieces every day. An aside: I met Scott Simmons, the coach noted in this column, on a flight back from an athletics meeting. We had a very nice chat, and I appreciated his thoughtfulness on training. Glad to see Scott Simmons doing so well with his Indian Athletes.
The American coach who pushed Indian distance running to world-class status. Most Indians start training to pass the physical requirements for entry into the army.
The next step to running in the army is a selection trial: a cross-country race to make the army team. Milkha Singh followed this process in the 1950s, and Gulveer did the same around 2020. After qualifying in that race, Gulveer started training under Army coach Younis Ahmed at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.
The Men’s 10,000m, Asian Games, photos by Asian Athletics
Early in 2021, Gulveer started winning medals at the national championships, and in 2023 he won a bronze medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou behind his colleague Kartik Kumar. After making his mark at the Asian level, the Athletics Federation of India proposed training Gulveer and Parul Chaudhary and a couple of other distance runners in Colorado Springs, USA, under coach Scott Simmons.
That marked the beginning of Gulveer Singh’s development. Scott slowly but steadily exposed Gulveer and Parul Chaudhary to multiple distance events, rather than only the 5000 and 10000 for Gulveer and the 3000 m steeplechase and 5000 for Parul. Over time, distance runners became more versatile, so much so that today Gulveer Singh holds every national record in distance running from 1 mile to 25 km.
Parul Chaudhary takes bronze in the Steeple at Nagoya Asian Games, photo by Asian Athletics
Gulveer took part in 3 events at the Asian Games and won three medals. Parul Chowdhury also competed in three events but won two medals, with a national record in the 3000 m steeplechase. Scott says he is still experimenting to find their best events for the 2028 Olympics.
This Gulveer will make his marathon debut in Valencia this December and, barring injury, is expected to break Sawan Barwal’s national record. Sawan has also benefited from training with Scott at Colorado Springs. The humble Gulveer says it’s all because he does whatever Coach Scott expects, day in and day out. Meanwhile, Scott hopes to come to India and identify talent, which he says is plentiful there.
Sarwan Barwal, silver medalist, marathon, Asian Games, NR for India! photo by Asian Athletics