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Kartik Kumar is an Indian athlete and army sergeant. He won a silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in a 10,000-metre race in September 2023 and became the first Indian to win a medal in the 10,000m event at the Asian Games since Gulab Chand in 1998.
Wiki/Biography
Kartik Kumar was born on Wednesday, 12 May 1999 (age 24 years; as of 2023) in the Shimlana village of Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Taurus. He also goes by the name Kartik Rajput.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 4″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Family
Kartik Kumar belongs to a Rajput Pundir family in western Uttar Pradesh.
Parents & Siblings
Kartik Kumar’s father’s name is Veer Singh. He has an elder brother, Sonu Kumar.
Kartik Kumar (right) with his father during an interview
Kartik Kumar’s family
Wife
Kartik Kumar is unmarried.
Religion
Kartik Kumar follows Hinduism.
Career
Athletics
Kartik Kumar started running at the age of 14 as he aspired to join the Indian Army, and he used to train at the Dr Ambedkar Stadium in Saharanpur to prepare for long-distance races. In 2016, Kartik gained recognition as an athlete at the national level, when he won a silver medal in the 3000m at Junior Nationals at Kozhikode. He has participated in many tournaments including the National Federation Cup (CH Muhammed Koya Stadium, Thenhipalam), 26th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships (Birsa Munda Foot Ball Stadium, Morabadi, Ranchi), National Open Championships (Stadium Hanamkonda, Warangal), and Indian National Games (Gujarat).
Kartik Kumar during his training at Colorado, USA
In 2022, Kartik Kumar recorded his personal best at the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon with a time of 1:04:00. He was the runner-up at the TCS World 10K 2022, Bengaluru, with a timing of 30:06. In November 2022, Karthik was selected by the Reliance Foundation to join the National camp. In 2023, after the Asian Championships in Bangkok, he went to Colorado, USA, to train under Scott Simmons following which he went to China for the 2022 Asian Games, where Karthik reduced his earlier personal best by 40 seconds by recording his time of 28:15.38.
Kartik Kumar’s poster shared by Reliance Foundation after he won a silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games
Indian Army
In 2019, Kartik was spotted by Amrish Kumar, the Indian Army’s chief running coach, at the Federation Cup in Patiala. He belongs to the Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune, with the 9 Jat Regiment.
Medals
Gold
- He won a gold medal at the Federation Cup 2022 in a 5000-metre race.
- He won a gold at the 62nd National Interstate Senior Athletics Champions in a 10,000-metre event.
Silver
- He won a silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in September 2023.
Kartik Kumar receiving his medal at the 2022 Asian Games
- In 2016, he won a silver medal in 3000 metres at Junior Nationals at Kozhikode.
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, talking about the reason why he started running, Kartik said,
In our region, a lot of boys run because they are preparing for the Army physical (test). There was also one high jumper who competed at the nationals who inspired a lot of youngsters to do athletics, but the main goal is to join the Army.”
- During an interview, when asked about how he felt after winning the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games, Kartik revealed that although he was confident about winning a medal, his main aim was to break a world record. He said,
“I’m very happy to win a silver for India. It’s after such a long time that we are winning the silver and bronze in the 10,000m, I knew that I would win a medal but I had come with the target of breaking the national record by clocking 27:50s. But I could not. I was slow in between, the race was also slow from the beginning,”