The Delhi Half Marathon has announced the Indian Elite field for its 21st edition, scheduled to take place in New Delhi on Sunday, October 18. The World Athletics Gold Label Road Race will feature 22 men and 20 women in the Indian Elite category, led by Harmanjot Singh and Kiran Matre among the men, and Lili Das and Kavita Yadav in the women’s field, according to a press release.
Harmanjot Singh, the reigning Indian Elite champion of the World 10K Bengaluru 2026 and silver medallist at the 2026 Asian Cross Country Championships, will make his debut at the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon. He holds the fastest personal best in the Indian Elite field with a time of 1:01:46, set at the Alwar Tiger International Half Marathon. Singh stated, “Winning in Bengaluru and taking silver at the Asian Cross Country this year has given me a lot of confidence going into Delhi. The Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon is one of the toughest races in the country, with a field that pushes you to your limit, and I am looking forward to testing myself against the best elite runners over the half marathon distance. I will give it everything on race day.”
Kiran Matre, who was the runner-up among the Indian Elite men at last year’s event and recorded a personal best of 1:04:57, aims to improve on his performance on home soil. Matre is also a former winner of the Indian Elite race at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru in 2024, where he set a personal best of 29:32. They will face competition from Kartik Karkera, winner of the Indian Elite men’s race at the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026 and third-place finisher at last year’s Delhi Half Marathon.
Track athlete Prince Kumar of Uttar Pradesh returns to the half marathon after a break. He was the 5,000m and 10,000m champion at the 2025 Open National Athletics Championships and secured gold in the 5,000m at the 2025 South Asian Athletics Championships.
In the women’s field, former Indian Elite champions Lili Das and Kavita Yadav will lead the charge. Das won the Indian Elite women’s category in 2024, while Yadav was the winner in 2023. They will contend with Olympic and World Championship steeplechase competitor Ankita Dhyani, who made a strong half marathon debut in 2025 by finishing fifth among Indian Elite women. Asian Games 2023 steeplechase bronze medallist Priti Lamba also enriches the field’s depth, having previously reached the Indian Elite podium in Delhi.
This edition of the Delhi Half Marathon will see the launch of PRIDE (Procam Rewards for Indian Distance Elites), a merit-based rewards system aimed at recognising, incentivising and empowering Indian elite athletes competing at Procam International events. PRIDE offers India’s top distance runners transparent, performance-driven benefits designed to celebrate excellence and support the advancement of elite distance running in the country.
Prize money for the top three finishers in the Indian Elite men’s and women’s categories is set at Rs 3,50,000 for first place, Rs 2,50,000 for second and Rs 1,50,000 for third. An additional Rs 1,00,000 incentive will be awarded for setting a new Indian Elite record at the event. Current Indian Elite records stand at 60 minutes 30 seconds, held by Avinash Sable in the men’s category since 2020, and 70 minutes 31 seconds, held by L. Suriya in the women’s category since 2017.