Competing at the 5000m athletics is the ultimate test of strength, resilience, hard work and motivation. Indian athlete Ankush Singh is a national gold medalist and has a silver medal at the All India Championship and is now setting his sights on qualifying for the Asian Games and winning medals for the country.

In this exclusive interview, Ankush Singh speaks about joining athletics, his biggest inspirations, fitness regime, memorable achievements, overcoming challenges, importance of mental health and his future goals.

Q 1) What motivated you to join athletics? Who have been your biggest inspirations in your journey so far?

My father and a few other members in my family were in the army and they motivated me to join athletics. My friends, who were older, took me for runs in the morning and that’s what introduced me to athletics. I wasn’t very interested initially but after my father’s persuasion, I started taking it more seriously. I’ve been doing athletics for eight years now, winning a lot of accolades and I’m enjoying it a lot.

Q 2) As a 5000m athletic runner, how do you maintain your fitness? Tell us about your training regime?

I live in Noida and practice at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. I workout daily to keep my fitness intact and my coaches help me to do that. I also give extra attention to my diet which is very important. 

Q 3) You have previously won a national gold medal and an All India Championship silver medal. Which is your biggest and most memorable achievement of your career?

I would say the silver medal at the All India Championship was extra special. I didn't prepare much for the event and only started to practice two months prior to it.

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Q 4) What are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them?

There were a lot of obstacles in my journey due to my family struggles, especially over the last 2 years because of the pandemic. It was really tough for me as I hadn’t practiced during the pandemic and didn’t know what to do next but now I'm back training even harder as I am trying to make up for the lost time.

Q5) How important is the role of mental health in competing as a 5000m athletic runner?

When you're a long distance runner you need to be physically as well as mentally prepared. You need to be focused on the end goal and work towards it without much mental stress and for me these past two years have been mentally tough, so to get back to the right mentality I personally need to work even harder and try to achieve my end goal.

Q6) What are your future goals? How do you plan to achieve them?

My current goal is to qualify for the Asian Games and hopefully win a medal for my country. I have already started training in the Army facilities and hopefully all the hard work and training pay enough dividends.