Calcutta’s day of tumbling records, international champs assert dominance in race
Telegraph | 23 December 2025
The Tata Steel World 25K, partnered by The Telegraph, delivered a riveting spectacle as international champions asserted their dominance and Indian distance running announced another leap forward.
While Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei underlined his mastery of the distance in the international elite men’s race, the day truly belonged to India’s Gulveer Singh and Seema, both of whom rewrote the course records in their respective elite categories.
Cheptegei, the double Olympic champion, crossed the line in 1:11:49 to win his maiden title, finishing ahead of Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu (1:11:56) and Lesotho’s Tebello Ramakongoana (1:11:59) in a tightly contested podium finish.
Though he fell short of the course record of 1:11:13 set by Daniel Simiu Ebenyo in 2023, Cheptegei’s composed and commanding run reaffirmed his stranglehold over the event.
“Winning mattered more than the record for me,” he said later.
In the international elite women’s race, Ethiopia’s Degitu Azimeraw dethroned defending champion and compatriot Sutume Asefa Kebede. Running the Kolkata course for the third time, Azimeraw, the winner here in 2017, clocked 1:19:36. Sutume settled for second in 1:20:28, while Meselech Alemayehu completed an Ethiopian clean sweep in 1:20:48.
In the Indian elite races, Gulveer Singh clocked 1:12:06 to finish first. He eclipsed the previous mark of 1:14:10, which he had set in 2024. Harmanjot Singh (1:15:11) and Sawan Barwal (1:15:25) followed him onto the podium.
Talking about the win, the Asian long-distance double gold medallist said, “Records come from consistency. The only goal is to be better than yesterday”.
Equally emphatic was Seema’s triumph in the Indian elite women’s category. Last year’s Asian Cross-country Champion and a silver medallist in the World University Games this summer, she stopped the clock at 1:26:04, breaking the long-standing Indian course record of 1:26:53 set by Suriya L in 2017. The margin of victory told its own story as Sanjivani Jhadav finished second in 1:30:34, more than four minutes adrift, with Nirmaben Thakor third in 1:32:02.
“The course route has been changed, and it has now become a more challenging course. But I had come here with the mindset of winning,” she said.