Havildar Sawan Barwal of the 501 FSE Group, Bengal Sappers, Indian Army, broke India’s national marathon record on April 12, 2026, at the NN Marathon Rotterdam in the Netherlands, ending a wait of 48 years for a new mark in the country’s longest-standing athletics record.

Barwal clocked 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 58 seconds in the full marathon of 42.195 kilometres, breaking the previous national record of 2:12:00 that Shivnath Singh had set in 1978. The record had stood for 17,486 days, making it the longest-standing national record in Indian athletics history.

Barwal trains at the Bengal Sappers centre, where the 501 FSE Group, known within the corps as Five Zero One, the Only One, has produced a tradition of discipline across both military and sporting pursuits. His preparation drew on the training infrastructure and methods that the Indian Army has developed at the Bengal Sappers facility.

The record places Barwal among the top marathon runners India has produced and signals that the country’s distance running has moved to a level not reached since the era of Shivnath Singh. Athletics bodies and the Armed Forces community have welcomed the achievement as a milestone for Indian sport.

Barwal’s timing of 2:11:58 now stands as India’s national marathon record.

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