CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s Anandkumar Velkumar, 22, has clinched a gold medal in the 42K skate marathon, marking his third medal at the ongoing Speed Skating World Championships in 2025.
He had earlier won gold in the 1000m sprint inline speed skating and a bronze in the 500m+D sprint race.
Anandkumar switched to Inline Speed Skating after turning 12 and made his big-stage breakthrough in 2021, when he won silver at the Junior World Championships.
In 2023, Anandkumar was selected to represent India at the World Games, where he made the opportunity count by clinching bronze in the 1000m Inline Speed Skating sprint with a timing of 1:22.482s. That medal was India’s first-ever in speed skating at the global competition.
(With inputs from Bureau)