Asian Games 2026: Baranica claims historic pole-vault medal as Gulveer wins 10,000m silver and Manpreet takes shot put bronze

On September 25, 2026, at the Paloma Mizuho athletics stadium in Nagoya, Baranica Elangovan became the first Indian to win an Asian Games medal in pole vault by clearing 4.15m; on the same day Gulveer Singh took silver in the 10,000m and Manpreet Kaur secured bronze in the shot put. The three podium finishes were India’s third set of track-and-field medals on day two of the athletics programme.

Baranica, 29, cleared 4.15m to share the bronze with Polina Ivanova of Kazakhstan, producing a landmark result for an event described in the report as an outlier in Indian athletics, particularly on the women’s side. Sindhushree recorded no mark in the competition. The pole-vault medal followed earlier medals for India on the day from the 10,000m and shot put.

Gulveer Singh, 28, improved on the bronze he won three years ago in Hangzhou by taking silver in the 10,000m with a time of 28:29.38, a mark the report described as well short of his personal and season’s best. The result added to his growing haul of major-meet performances.

Manpreet Kaur produced a best throw of 17.17m on her fourth attempt to claim bronze in the shot put, finishing behind China’s Song Jiayuan (19.40) and Zhang Linru (18.14). Krishna Jayasankar placed fifth with a best of 16.57m.

In other field events, Damneet Singh finished ninth in the hammer throw with 67.56m and Praveen Kumar was 11th with 65.24m.

Indian sprinters failed to progress from the men’s 100m semifinals, with Gurindervir Singh clocking 10.32s and Animesh Kujur 10.38s. Thailand’s Puripol Boonson won the men’s 100m in a Games record 9.90s and was the only athlete to break the 10-second barrier during the competition, doing so three times, while China’s Chen Yujie won the women’s 100m in 11.06. In the heptathlon, Pooja finished sixth with 5,368 points and Anamika A.K. was eighth with 5,234.

Kiran Pahal (53.44) and Prachi (53.46) advanced to the women’s 400m final, and Vishal T.K. progressed among the men with a time of 45.27.

Gulveer is scheduled to compete further in Nagoya, starting with the 1500m heats on Saturday, September 26, followed by the 1500m final and the 5000m over the coming days.