New Delhi [India], October 17 : Two-time Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo shared the stage with India's Asian Games heroes at 'Beyond The Finish Line', a panel discussion held at New Delhi, on Friday, two days before the Delhi Half Marathon 2026 – a World Athletics Gold Label Race.
The panel also featured the women's 4x400m relay team that won India's first athletics gold of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, distance runner Gulveer Singh, who won three medals at the Games, and marathoner Sawan Barwal, who set a national record in April. The conversation moved well beyond medals, touching on motherhood, mental strength, village roots and how a single gold medal can change a life. 
-A gold for the whole country
The relay quartet of Kiran Pahal, Poovamma MR, Prachi Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj clocked 3:29.69 in Nagoya on September 29 to secure the gold.
"We had decided we will win gold and we will hear the national anthem," said Poovamma MR, who ran the second leg and has been part of India's relay gold-winning teams at the Asian Games in 2014 and 2018, as per a press release.
A runner for 23 years, she said what keeps her going is simple: "I love running. It has become a passion." She added that she hopes to show younger athletes what is possible: "I just want to inspire and motivate junior athletes. If I can do it, why can't other girls?"
Vithya Ramraj, who had already won silver in the mixed relay and bronze in the 400m hurdles earlier in the Games, recalled the moment she took the baton. "When I got the baton from Prachi, I decided it was my race now," she said. "The three of them had done their best, and I just wanted to run and finish it." Of her hunger for the top step, she said: "I never got a gold medal. This time, I wanted to change the colour."
For Prachi Chaudhary, who won silver at the previous Asian Games, the victory meant a different kind of ownership. "The gold we have won, we four have not won it alone. The whole of India has won it, and the whole of India was with us," she said, adding that the medal had changed her life entirely.
-From village tracks to national records
Gulveer Singh, who won silver in the 1500m and 10,000m and bronze in the 5000m in Japan, reflected on a Games that delivered three podium finishes for India.
Marathoner Sawan Barwal traced his journey from school-level 800m races to the Indian Army, which he joined in 2019. "When I joined, we had no track in our village and I knew very little about sports science or nutrition," he said. "After coming into the Army, I got to see so much, from how to train to how to recover from injuries." He said that platform, followed by national camps and sponsor support, is now helping the next generation.
Barwal also took the audience inside the marathon. "When I reached 35 kilometres, everything suddenly changed mentally," he said, recalling that after 37 kilometres his mind stopped working and his only task was to keep himself mentally stable. During his national-record run in April, he said the last kilometres felt like 42 each, and he collapsed within 50 metres of the finish line before getting up to complete the race.
Speaking about his home region, he made a case for grassroots support. "There is a lot of talent in Himachal, but not enough knowledge or sporting culture there," he said. "If athletes get support at the right stage, we can see many more good athletes."
-Shaunae Miller-Uibo: "Find that village"
Miller-Uibo, who won the Olympic 400m title in Rio and again in Tokyo and is now eyeing a third Olympic title at the 2028 Games, spoke about returning to elite sport as a mother of two. She credited the women who returned to competition before her. "You can come back. It is possible," she said.
Asked how she balances training with motherhood, she pointed to the people around her. "I think the most important thing is to find that village," she said. "Having the team behind you makes things a lot easier."
On dealing with losses and setbacks, she said sport had taught her early that a bad day is not the end of the story. "This one disappointment does not mean the whole world," she said, adding that the key to protecting mental strength lies in the steps taken afterwards. "It is just about trying to stay as strong as you can," she said, acknowledging that low moments will come.
A medal moment on stage
The session closed with Miller-Uibo and World Athletics Vice President Adille Sumariwalla joining the relay team on stage to present each member with their Asian Games gold medal, giving the quartet a podium moment in front of the Delhi audience.
The evening set the tone for Sunday, with over 41,000 runners set to take to the streets of the national capital for the 21st edition of the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon on October 18.