How Seema’s slow-race gamble paid off with an Asian Games bronze in a field of champions

Seema, India’s 25-year-old long-distance runner, stunned a world-class field to win bronze in the women’s 10,000 meters at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, delivering India’s first athletics medal at the event since 2010.

Updated : Sep 25, 2026 00:00 IST , NAGOYA - 5 MINS READ

As she crossed the finish line, it was obvious by the fact that Seema had the energy to scamper off the track and rush back with an Indian flag almost as big as her that she had more to give. She’ll need it when she turns up for the 5000m later this week. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

As far as Seema’s mother knows, she is still in India.

Kesari Devi knows her daughter is a professional athlete, but she thinks she’s still running somewhere in Bengaluru rather than in the finals of the Asian Games at the Paloma Mizuho stadium in Nagoya, Japan. Seema – who goes by only one name – didn’t tell her mother, not because of any superstition but because she did not want her to worry.

“My mother has high blood pressure. She worries a lot when she finds out I’m out of India. So I don’t tell her when I go out for training or for competing,” the 25-year-old said. As far as secrets go, it’s going to be hard to keep this one.

On Thursday night, Seema, on Asian Games debut, ran a tactically near-perfect race, to win India’s first medal – a bronze in the women’s 10000m -- in the athletics events in Nagoya. It’s the first medal for India in this event since the 2010 Games.

She beat out former Olympic champion Ruth Jebet as well as the reigning Asian Champion Daisy Jepkemei and only finished behind Winfred Yavi of Bahrain and Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka, a top-eight finisher at the Olympics and World Championships.

It’s a field that, on paper, not many would have given the Indian much hope for in the build up to the competition. But Seema, who grew up running high up in the mountains of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh and has spent the last three years training with coach Scott Simon in the high-altitude center of Colorado Springs in the USA, showed no nerves whilst competing on the biggest stage of her life.

As the starter’s pistol sounded, she immediately ran to the front of the pack.

This wasn’t to set the pace. Far from it. She simply wanted to see just how hard everyone wanted to race. She quickly figured out that no one really wanted to. This wasn’t because of any lack of ability.

Seema’s personal best over the 10000m is 32.02.43. Tanaka ran the same distance in 30.54.4. Jepkemei has clocked 30.48.44. Jebet and Yavi are gold medallists in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2016 and 2024 Olympics. The 10000m might be a longer race but the ability to run a quick steeplechase implies the possession of a powerful finishing kick.

“I knew that if all of them started running at their usual pace, the field would very easily split up to people able to match their pace.”

But she also knew that with Tanaka and Yavi running multiple races (Tanaka will be running the 5000m while Yavi will be running both the 3000m steeplechase as well as the 5000m) both wanted to conserve as much of energy as possible over the course of the Games.

So Seema ran at a speed that suited her. “Once I went to the lead and I realised that no one was interested in leading and setting the pace, I decided to slow things down. It was a very tactical race. Everyone was just fighting for a medal. So was I.”

Watching from the stands was coach Simmons who understood exactly what was going on.

“This was a really slow race. The first 400m was run in 83 seconds. Then you’d have people slow up and you’d have four people go into the lead. Then they’d slow down and you’d have eight people in the leading pack once again. Then once again you’d have people push the pace and right after that, they’d slow down again,” he explained.

These constant changes of speed were meant to do one thing: break a runner’s rhythm and tire them out. Seema, though, simply never let that happen. As the laps counted down, she simply kept up with the lead group.

Finally, with only a couple of laps to go, it was Yavi and Tanaka who made their move. Seema managed to keep pace. But while the Indian stayed close, inexplicably, it was Jepkemei and Jebet who fell behind, the latter starting to trail first. Then with one lap to go, Jepkemei followed.

Yavi with her powerful finishing kicks— she ran the last lap in just under 59 seconds — steered clear of the field, as did Tanaka who went well in front of Seema. But the Indian too had many dozens of yards between herself and Jepkemei, a gap that would never close.

As she crossed the finish line, it was obvious by the fact that Seema had the energy to scamper off the track and rush back with an Indian flag almost as big as her that she had more to give.

She’ll need it when she runs in the 5000m in three days.

“I’m happy I won bronze in the 10000m but I want to change the color of my medal in the 5000m,” she declared.

As for her mother, Seema shrugs as she guesses how the fact that she’s won an Asian Games medal would surely find its way to her even in the mountains of the Himalayas.

“I think she’s not going to be able to sleep for at least a day,” she gushed!