India’s Gopi, Kheta Ram clock personal best in marathon

Indian duo of Thanackal Gopi and Kheta Ram put up an inspired show and clock their personal best timings to finish 25th and 26th respectively in the men’s marathon on at the Rio Olympics, here on Sunday.

Gopi registered his personal best timing of 2:15:25s, while Ram was just a second behind his compatriot, clocking 2:15:26s to complete the race and bring down the curtains on India’s campaign.

However, it was disappoint for India’s more accomplished marathon runner Nitendra Singh Rawat as he finished a poor 84th by clocking 2:22:52s, way below his personal best timing of 2:15:18s registered at the South Asian Games in Guwahati earlier this year.

28-year-old Kerala lad Gopi, who had largely remained under the shadows of Rawat and Kheta Ram, ran the race of his career when he improved from being 70 at 10km mark to 55th at halfway before finishing with his personal best timing.

Introduced to the arduous 42.195km format in Mumbai Marathon earlier this year where he was brought in to set the pace for Rawat, Gopi had finished behind his Army colleague with a personal best of 2:15:15s, second among Indians and 11th overall.

Gopi along with his colleague Kheta Ram brilliantly set the pace as the 29-year-old finished just a second behind to grab the 26th place which also was better than his previous best of 2:17:23s registered in Mumbai Marathon.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge clinched the gold with a timing of 2:08:44s while the silver and bronze went to Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa (2:09:54s) and United States’ Galen Rupp (2:10:05s).