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Indians at World Athletics Championships 2025: Gulveer Singh misses 5000m final spot; Annu Rani disappoints

Gulveer Singh and Annu Rani had a poor penultimate day for the Indian athletes at the World Athletics Championships 2025 as they failed to move beyond the qualification stage in men's 5000m and women's javelin throw respectively.

Gulveer Singh, World Athletics Championships 2025

Gulveer Singh (Left) in the men's 5000m heat at the World Athletics Championships 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

National record holder Gulveer Singh clocked 13:42.34 in the second heat of the men’s 5000m to finish ninth and missed the spot in the final by a whisker. Top eight athletes from each heat qualify for the final and Gulveer lost the last spot to reigning Olympic and World champion Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway. Earlier, Gulveer finished 16th in the men’s 10000m event.

Gulveer has been particularly dominant at the national level in the 5000m event rewriting the national record thrice this year. He was training in USA under the watch of Scott Simmons and became the first-ever Indian to dip under 13 minutes in the event with a personal best of 12:59.77.

“My training in USA was good but because of this weather my body hasn’t responded well here. In the last kilometre I was left short. This was my first championships and I have learned a lot from all the big athletes here. Next time, I believe I will do better than this. Now I will focus on the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” Gulveer told World Athletics after the heats.

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Elsewhere, Annu Rani finished overall 29th in the women’s javelin throw qualification with a best throw of 55.18m. It was a disappointing show by the veteran thrower who is featuring in her fifth World Championships. In the run up to the Worlds, Rani was in good form going beyond 60m constantly winning golds at India Open Bronze continental tour and Inter-State Championships. However, she struggled to cross 55m in Tokyo.

Overall, it has been a poor outing for the Indian contingent as only Sarvesh Anil Kushare, Neeraj Chopra, and Sachin Yadav went beyond the qualification events and India’s biggest medal hope, defending World champion Neeraj Chopra finished eighth in the Javelin Throw final.

Servin Sebastian will be in action tomorrow in the men’s 20km race walk making it the last event with an Indian participation.

Indian results at World Athletics Championships 2025

Men’s 35km Race Walk Final – Sandeep Kumar (Finished 23rd with timing of 2:39.15), Ram Baboo (Disqualified)
Women’s 35km Race Walk Final – Priyanka Goswami (Finished 24th with timing of 3:05.58)
Women’s 1500m Heats – Pooja (Finished 11th in Heat 2 with timing of 4.13.75 seconds)
Men’s 10,000m Final – Gulveer Singh finished 16th with 29:13.33.
Women’s 3000m Steeplechase– Parul Chaudhary (finished 20th with timing of 9:22.20 in heats), Ankita (finished 35th with timing of 10:03.22 in heats)
Men’s Long Jump– Murali Sreeshankar (finished 14th in qualification with 7.78m jump)
Men’s High Jump- Sarvesh Anil Kushare (finished 6th in the final with 2.27m jump)
Men’s 110m Hurdles Heats – Tejas Shirse (finished 29th in the heats with a timing of 13.57s)
Men’s Triple Jump Qualification – Praveen Chithravel (finished 15th in qualification with 16.74m jump), Abdulla Aboobacker (finished 24th in qualification with 16.33m jump)
Men’s Javelin Throw– Sachin Yadav (finished 4th in final with a 86.27m throw), Neeraj Chopra (finished 8th in final with a 84.03m throw), Yashvir Singh (finished 30th in qualification with 77.51m throw), Rohit Yadav (finished 28th in qualification with 77.81m throw)
Men’s 200m Heats – Animesh Kujur (finished 42nd in heats with a timing of 20.77s)
Women’s 800m Heats – Pooja (finished 32nd in heats with a timing of 2:01.03)
Women’s Javelin Throw Qualification – Annu Rani (finished 29th in qualification with a 55.18m mark)
Men’s 5000m Heats – Gulveer Singh (finished 27th in heats with a timing of 13:42.34)