Winning the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday was a confidence booster, says army’s elite runner Thonakal Gopi

It was a good day in the office for India’s international runner Thonakal Gopi as he finished first in the Indian category of the Tata Mumbai Marathon on Sunday (January 15).

While Ethiopia’s Hayle Lemi and Anchalem Haymanot won the elite foreign men’s and women’s race in a course record.

“I am excited to have run a good marathon race after a long gap of over two years,” Gopi told Sportskeeda over the phone from Mumbai.

The 34 years old army’s international runner clocked 2:16:41 to finish 10th overall in the marathon event.

“The weather was good in Mumbai. I wasn’t tired but I couldn’t push harder in the last 10km as I felt a ting in my calf muscle,” the 2016 Rio Olympian said of his racing experience on the streets of Mumbai.

Gopi, however, fell short of the postponed 2022 Asian Games qualifying mark of 2:15 for the marathon race.

The last two years have been all about focusing on rehab and struggling to regain fitness for the army runner. The Mumbai marathon was Gopi’s first race of 2023, running his last major race in 2019 at the Doha World Athletics Championship. He has since been on the injury list.

“The fact that I was able to run a good race, it was a good confidence booster,” Gopi added. “The last two years have been challenging for me as I was undergoing rehab due to knee injury.”

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Results of the Marathon

Army’s Man Singh (2:16:58) trailed in second place, while Kalidas Hirave (2:19:54) of the Indian army was third. The 2020 winner Srinu Bugatha finished fifth in 2:23:05.

Bhopal’s Chavi Yadav won the marathon race in the Indian women’s category with a time of 2:50:35. Arati Patil (3:00:44) finished second, while Renu Singh (3:01:11) was third.

Ethiopia’s Lemi clocked 2:07:32 to improve the previous course record of 2:08:09 and took home winners prize of $45,000 and bonus $15,000 for setting a course record. Philemon Rono of Kenya finished second in 2:08:44, while Hailu Zewdu of Ethiopia was third in 2:10:23.

Ethiopia’s Anchalem won the elite marathon race in women’s group with a course record of 2:24:15. Ethiopia’s Rahma Tusa, a two-time Rome Marathon winner, finished second in 2:24:22, while Letebrhan Haylay, also of Ethiopia, was third in 2:24:52.

Meanwhile, Parul Chaudhary bettered her course mark in the women’s half marathon and Murli Gavit won the men’s crown.