While the international elite field in Delhi is led by Birhanu Legese and Irine Cheptai, the Indian elite category at the 21st Delhi Half Marathon on 18 October carries its own storylines. The World Athletics Gold Label race has 22 men and 20 women in its Indian Elite category, and the domestic contest is expected to be one of the most closely watched parts of the day.
Harmanjot Singh is the fastest man in the Indian field on paper, with a half marathon personal best of 1:01:46 set at the Alwar Tiger International Half Marathon. He is the reigning Indian Elite champion at the World 10K Bengaluru and won silver at the 2026 Asian Cross Country Championships. Delhi will be his debut at the distance in this race. “I will give it everything on race day,” he said.
He will be pursued by Kiran Matre, who was second among Indian elite men at last year's Delhi race and set his personal best of 1:04:57 there. Matre is also the 2024 Indian Elite champion at World 10K Bengaluru. Kartik Karkera, who won the Indian Elite men's title at the 2026 Mumbai Marathon and was third among the Indian runners in Delhi last year, completes the leading trio.
In the women's race Lili Das, a former winner of the event, is among the headline names. Beyond the leading runners, details of the rest of the 42-strong domestic field, including prize money, qualification targets and the full women's list, were not available at the time of writing.
The Indian runners will share the road with an international field in which seven men have sub-60-minute personal bests, as Running Lookout reported in its preview, and the contrast gives domestic athletes a rare chance to measure themselves against the world's best on home roads. Results will follow once the race is complete.