Santoshi Shrestha of Bagmati Province won gold medal in the women’s 1500 metre race at the 44th National Athletics Competition that began at the Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwar on Friday.

A gold medallist at the 13th South Asian Games, the 28-year-old middle distance runner clocked 4 minutes and 42.8 seconds to secure the first position.

Shrestha had created history becoming the first female athlete to claim gold in the sub-continental sports event in 2019 when she edged Indian runner Kavita Yadav by 10 milliseconds in the 10,000m event.

Shrestha also holds the national record of 1 hour 14 minutes and 14 seconds in half-marathon, set in December last year that eclipsed the previous best record of 1:18:28 set by Kanchhi Maya Koju.

It is Shrestha’s tenth gold in domestic events following the SAG success.

Purna Laxmi Neupane of Tribhuvan Army Club finished second, timing 4:58.2 to bag silver. APF Club’s Aagya Rawal finished third, recording 5:05.9.

The men’s 1500m was dominated by the departmental teams. Army’s Mukesh Paal completed the distance in 3:56.7 to win gold. Aajit Yadav of APF, who was 2.1 seconds behind, claimed silver. Sunil Sunar of Army finished third with a time of 4:01.8.

APF’s Ramita Kumari Tharu won the women’s 400m race timing 59.89 seconds. Army’s Nirmala Thapa took 1:01.06 to bag silver. Aruna Rijal of Lumbini Province took bronze finishing at 1:01.9.

In men’s 400m, Army’s Som Bahadur Kumal won the gold recording 48.79 seconds. Prakash Danuwar, also from Army, secured the silver medal clocking 49.92. Nir Pratap Mahato of APF finished the race in 50.90 seconds to claim bronze.

A total of 240 athletes from seven provinces and three departmental teams are competing for 31 golds in the competition.