India's Asian Games bronze medalist, Gulveer Singh, set a new Asian indoor 5000m record while also securing a qualification spot for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Competing at the Terrier DMR Challenge indoor event in Boston, USA, Gulveer clocked 12 minutes and 59.77 seconds, finishing fourth. His time made him the first Indian to complete the 5000m in under 13 minutes.Gulveer's remarkable performance surpassed the previous Asian indoor 5000m record of 13:08.41 seconds, held by Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate since 2022. The qualification standard for the 2025 World Championships, scheduled from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo, is 13:01.00.In addition to breaking the indoor record, the 26-year-old Armyman also improved his own 5000m outdoor national record, reducing his previous best of 13:11.82 by over 12 seconds. However, Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair noted that Gulveer's indoor timing may not be officially recognized as the national outdoor record."No doubt, it's an indoor national record and Asian indoor record at that. Athletes can run with faster time on outdoor tracks because of less number of turns (laps) as compared to indoor tracks."But, indoor timing may not be considered as outdoor national record, though Gulveer's indoor timing is better than even the outdoor," Nair said.An indoor track has a lap distance of 200 meters, while the length of an outdoor track is 400 meters per lap.“My goal here (in Boston) was to improve my personal best over the 5,000m,” Gulveer said after his record-breaking performance.“I’m happy that I’ve achieved a new milestone during the race. I’m also excited to have achieved the automatic entry standard for the World Athletics Championships.”USA’s Olympic 1500m champion, Cole Hocker, claimed the gold with a time of 12:57.82, while Cooper Teare finished second at 12:57.97. Jack Rayner secured third place with a time of 12:59.43.Gulveer Singh also holds the national 10000m record, having set a time of 27:14.88 at the Hachioji Long Distance meet in Japan last year.Athletics Federation of India president Bahadur Singh Sagoo praised the early season performances of a core group of Indian distance runners based in Colorado Springs, USA, expressing optimism for the future.“We are hopeful of good results in the coming outdoor season,” Sagoo said.