4 min readJun 16, 2026 12:44 PM IST
Pune’s Yogesh Sanap, 39, becoming the fastest-ever Indian finisher at the prestigious Comrades Marathon in South Africa, clocking a remarkable sub-seven-hour finish in the 85.77-km race on Sunday.A three-time Boston Marathon qualifier, Sanap clocked 6:59.57 hours in what is widely regarded as the world’s oldest and most iconic ultramarathon. He eclipsed Devarao Chaudhari’s record for fastest-ever Indian in the event, set last year.
This year’s race — the 99th edition of the Comrades Marathon — was an “Up Run” from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, including five major climbs. Breaking the Indian record has still to sink in for Sanap, who ran the marathon at a brilliant pace of 4.54 minutes/km. “All this seems like a dream,” Sanap told The Indian Express from South Africa.
Adding to India’s impressive showing were Sanap’s fellow Pune runners Saarth Sable and Dr Yogesh Satav, who completed the gruelling race in 7:15.08 hours and 7:24.46 hours respectively. According to the International Association of Ultrarunners, as many as 21,633 runners took part in the Comrades Marathon, with George Kusche winning among the men in a new “Up Run” record of 5:15:56 hours and Gerda Steyn’s finishing first among women in 5:49.46 hours. The official cut-off time for the Comrades marathon is 12 hours.
Kashyap Mody (46), ambassador of the Comrades Marathon in India, himself completed the race for the tenth time to earn the highly coveted “Green Number”. He said the participation of Indians in this top-level race is growing. “We had 279 Indian runners participating in the race this year. Of the more than 20 Indian woman runners, Dr Aarti Brijmohan Zawar from Latur was a top finisher with a time of 8:45.37 hours,” he said. Mody observed that the community of endurance runners is growing in the country. “It would be nice to see 1,000 Indian runners taking part in the 100th edition of the Comrades Marathon next year,” he said.Sanap, who had clocked 7:26.58 hours at the 2025 Comrades Marathon, said he had focused a great deal on his training to finish faster this year by nearly 27 minutes. “I would average at least 260 km per week along with speed sessions, hill training and strength training. My physiotherapy team played a key role in keeping me injury-free. All this helped me in going under the seven-hour mark,” he said.
Took up running initially to lose weight
Hailing from a family of farmers in Andhera of Buldhana district in Maharashtra, Sanap completed his graduation in pharmacy from Pusad in Yavatmal and decided to relocate to Pune for better job opportunities when he was in his early 20s.
Over time, a corporate job and lack of exercise resulted in his weight shooting up to 88 kg. “I was 31 and would experience this niggling sciatica pain. In 2019, I decided to take up running initially to lose weight,” Sanap recalled.
Running soon became a passion. In addition, he also went on to become an ultra cyclist with two Super Randonneur titles under his belt.
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Sanap, known as coach Yosa, has now devoted himself fully to training runners both in India and abroad, many of them online.
Sanap is full of praise for the other Indians who excelled at Comrades. “It is particularly heartening to see so many women participating in this top-level race. Most of them are married and it is encouraging to see how supportive their families are,” he added.
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