On a comeback trail, Army’s elite runner Thonakal Gopi aims for a podium finish in Mumbai Marathon

Army’s 34-year-old Asian marathon champion, Thonakal Gopi, is on the comeback trail after a long lay-off due to an injury. The 2016 Rio Olympian is all ready to test his endurance on the streets of India’s financial hub this weekend at the Tata Mumbai Marathon.

“The marathon in Mumbai on Sunday will be my first competitive race of 2023,” Gopi explained to Sportskeeda. “The overall performance in the weekend race will enable me to evaluate my preparation ahead of the busy season.”

In 2017, Gopi became the first Indian male runner to win the Asian marathon title. Despite missing the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games qualification time, the Army runner bounced back in 2019. He ran a personal best of two hours and 13.39 seconds at the Seoul International Marathon in Korea.

The overall performance earned him a berth for the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships. But the hot and humid conditions in Doha denied the Indian runner a good time. He finished 21st in the marathon event with a time of two hours and 15:57 seconds.

Gopi’s goal to represent India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2021 was curtailed by a knee injury in September 2019. In 2020, he had to undergo surgery to get rid of knee pain.

“I couldn’t practice without pain in 2020. I was advised by a medical expert to have surgery to get rid of the pain,” Gopi recalled. “Recovery and rehabilitation process took a long time. I missed vital training sessions in 2020 and 2021."

In November last year, the Army runner returned to marathon racing. He competed at the Allahabad Marathon in Uttar Pradesh.

“I was feeling rusty during the race. There was no urge to push and stay with the leading group,” Gopi said. “I ran solo behind the lead group and finished fourth with a time of 2:26.”

According to Gopi, the overall result was satisfactory in the Allahabad marathon as it was his first competition after a long gap of more than two years.

“Physically I was feeling good during the Allahabad race but mentally I wasn’t prepared as I was scared of getting injured again as it was my first race in 2022,” Gopi revealed.

Since the Allahabad race, Gopi has shifted his focus to the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday. The Army runner is familiar with the streets of Mumbai.

The 2016 Mumbai Marathon was Gopi’s first competitive race over the 42.195 km distance. He successfully finished second in the Indian category and even qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Post the Rio Olympic Games, Gopi’s career graph was unsteady. He won the Asian Marathon title in 2017, but failed to qualify for the 2018 Asian Games. He bounced back in 2019 but was sidelined again due to an injury.

According to Gopi, the fundamental issue of not making good progress in the last four years was injury.

“Within a span of four years from 2016 to 2019, I improved my marathon time by nearly three minutes,” Gopi said. “I could have cracked 2 hours and 13 minutes, but missed training due to knee surgery in 2020 and 2021.”

The former track runner ran his first marathon in January 2016 in Mumbai. The same year, he finished a creditable 25th at the Rio Olympics. Practice in the last two months, says Gopi, has been on the expected lines.

“I am mentally prepared to race a good marathon on Sunday,” the Army runner said.

Post the Mumbai marathon, Gopi's next race will be in March in Korea.

“I will skip the National Marathon in February in Delhi as it will be just five weeks after the Mumbai race. Recovery is important to clock a good time in marathon,” Gopi said from his training base in Bengaluru.