As he walked off the track, after taking fifth place in the 1500m at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Panchkula, Kartik Karkera didn’t seem particularly satisfied with his performance. “5th in the nation, doesn’t excite anymore,” he’d post on his Instagram profile.
But perhaps, the 27-year-old from Borivali in Mumbai could be a little easier on himself. His time of 3.47.94s, in the race won by Parvej Khan, was a new personal best, improving on his previous best time of 3.48.67s set two years ago in Bhubaneswar. Fifth place is also his best result at a national championships.
It was also a performance that came without the ideal sort of preparation. While most of his competitors were fine tuning their preparation a week before the Inter State championships, Karkera was in the village of Matori in rural Nashik administering to patients as part of his medical residency.
“It was part of the PSM (Preventive and Social Medicine) program that is part of my residency. As a doctor, I have to go to the villages around Nashik and treat patients for all sorts of illnesses,” he says. That’s not his specialisation however – he also has an MD in orthopaedic surgery. “For the most part I’m mostly working with things like fractures although I do get to assist in more complex surgeries as well,” he says.
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While most athletes in India say they often have to choose between their studies and sports, there’s none of that option for Karkera, who is currently working at Dr. Vasantrao Pawar medical college hospital and research center. “I have to find a way to do both of them. I’m a doctor but running is my passion,” he says.
Karkera won’t be the first doctor who’s excelled in track and field athletics in India– Khyati Vakharia has previously won gold in the pole vault event at the national championships while pursuing her medical studies. However, while Vakharia has now moved onto a successful career as a sports medicine specialist, Karkera intends to be the first actively practising doctor to make his way to the top of the podium.
Karkera probably wouldn’t even have taken up the sport if it wasn’t for his medical studies. The son of a businessman in Borivali, Mumbai, Karkera had no inclination towards sports as a child. “No one in my family was into sports. I was pretty good in studies so the expectation was always that I would pursue academics. I was your typical spectacle-wearing skinny nerdy guy,” he says.
After graduating from school, Karkera pursued his MBBS degree from the Tambov State Medical university in Tambov, a city near Moscow, Russia. While his first year at college was spent simply getting to grips with learning the language and his studies, he developed an interest in sports in his second year.
“I didn’t really think that I would get anywhere with my running. But in my first year, I didn’t feel the study program was very challenging and I had the time to do something else. So, I thought why not try something else. I didn’t start out with running though. At my university, there’s an event called the polyathon where we do swimming, shooting, throwing, sprints and long-distance running. I tried all of them and realised I actually had an aptitude for middle and long-distance running,” he says.
With just his college coach training him, he started participating in local events and then, district level competitions. As running became more than just a hobby, Karkera says he found it more challenging to balance his studies with the sport.
“A lot of parents might have asked me whether I had gone to Russia to run or to study. Some of the other Indian students wouldn’t even dare to tell their family if they were just going to the gym, but I was lucky that my family was always very supportive. My first priority was of course going to be studies but I always found a way to make time to run and train. I was waking up at 4 in the morning to do my training before my classes would begin. I would often be doing my stretching exercises while taking a shower just so that I could save some time. The only time I would reduce the amount of time I spent training was when I had my exams coming up, and at that time I would just run for half an hour. But I always craved just those few minutes that I could train,” he says.
His passion had rapid effects. “I actually progressed a lot faster than I expected. I started running in 2017 and within three years, I was competing at the university indoor championships in Russia,” says Karkera who came in fourth in the 1500m and ninth in the 3000m at the 2020 Indoor University Indoor championships in Yaroslav. “I thought it was really crazy. There are some really good runners at the university level in Russia and there was me, this Indian kid who had come to study medicine, running in the final along with them,” he says.
As he improved, Karkera found himself rubbing shoulders with some of the best Russian athletes – and not just the ones studying in university. “I even managed to compete in some of the Russian senior national events. I was part of the field when (2020 Olympian) Vladimir Nikitin set the Russian national record in the 5000m,” says Karkera.
His performance even caught the attention of more than a few locals in Russia too. “I actually got a few sponsors in Russia. I became part of the Stride running club in Russia and they paid to allow me to go and compete in India. Later, when I was completing my post graduation in orthopaedic surgery from Moscow University, I also got the chance to train in Moscow under (2004) Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy,” says Karkera.
That spell with the Olympic gold medallist translated into results as well for Karkera who won the national inter-university indoor title in the 1500m in Yaroslav, in what was his first year of postgraduate studies.
Karkera was doing well in Russia – his times were steadily improving and in 2023, he was offered a job after he completed his studies. He was also making a name for himself in the half marathon circuit -- taking sixth place in the Moscow Half marathon in 2023. However, he chose instead to return to India. “I knew that if I ever wanted to compete for India, I’d have to perform here,” he says.
After clearing his Foreign Medical Graduates Examination in January this year, Karkera began his one-year residency in Nashik – a city he chose primarily since it’s also home to Vijender Singh – one of India’s most respected long-distance coaches.
Singh, who’s coached some of India’s top women long-distance runners, including Olympian and Asian games medallist Kavita Raut – has high hopes from Karkera. “He’s someone who is a late starter to the sport but he is very intelligent. I see him very capable of becoming the best in India and competing in the next Asian Games in either the 1500m or the 5000m,” he says.
While his student’s talent is undoubted, Singh admits it’s often hard to balance his medical workload with his running. It’s a bit of a challenge to get leave to either compete – although it’s a little easier to get it for major events like the national championships rather than the state competition – or train. For now, Karkera says he’s able to keep his feet on two boats. “I usually start my training at 4 am. At that time, there aren’t too many other athletes. So, I can really focus on myself. I usually begin my hospital work from 10 in the morning and it usually goes on until late evening. I need to manage my time very carefully but because running is something I really love to do, I find a way to do it,” he says.
While he’s trained as an orthopaedic surgeon, Karkera says he hopes to eventually pursue a career in sports medicine. “I actually worked for six months in the Russian Olympic Committee as a medical doctor. There are a lot of interesting ideas I picked up there that I hope I can try and apply here in India,” he says.
This may be for other athletes in the future, but for now, Karkera is looking out for himself. “I am a late starter but I am still improving each year as an athlete. My goal is to eventually become the best in India and qualify for the Asian Games in 2026. It’s a very ambitious goal but I didn’t even think it would be possible for me to become a runner in the first case. I just want to prove to people that it is possible,” he says.
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