Racewalkers Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh have qualified for the 2023 World Athletics Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics after surpassing the qualifying mark in 20km racewalking in the ongoing India Open National Racewalking competition in Ranchi on Tuesday.
Priyanka, who competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, clocked 1:28:50 seconds to surpass the qualifying standard of 1:29:20s set for the Budapest Worlds and Paris Olympics.
While qualifying for the marquee events, Uttar Pradesh’s Priyanka also came close to breaking her own national record but fell 0.05s shy of surpassing her career-best timing of 1:28.45s.
Priyanka Goswami, the women’s 20km gold medallist (white) followed by silver winner Bhawna Jat (blue) at the National race walking championships in Ranchi on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: AFI
Meanwhile, Bhawana Jat missed the berth by 0.24s clocking 1:29.44s to finish the Nationals second behind Priyanka.
For Akshdeep, however, to qualify for both events, he needed a national record-breaking effort in Ranchi. He clocked 1:19.55s to become the first Indian to finish a 20km racewalk in less than 1 hour and 20 minutes. In the process, he broke the previous national record of Sandeep Kumar, who held the record at 1:20.16s and qualified for the World Championships and Paris Olympics. The qualifying mark for men’s racewalking was set at 1:20.10s.
But for Suraj Panwar it was heartbreak as he missed a Worlds and Paris Olympics berth by 0.01s for clocking 1:20.11s.
The results:
Men: 20km: 1. Akshdeep Singh (Pun) 1:19.55s NR, OR 1:20:16, Sandeep Kumar, 2021; 2. Suraj Panwar (Utk) 1:20.11 BR; 3. Vikash Singh (Del) 1:21.08.
Under-20 (10km): 1. Aditya Negi (Utk) 41:33ss, 2. Babendra Singh (Utk) 42:17, Himanshu Kumar (Utk) 43:13.
Women: 1. Priyanka Goswami (UP) 1:28.50s, Bhawna Jat (Raj) 1:29:44, 3. Sonal Sukhwal (Raj) 1:31.03.
Under-20 (10km): 1. Mansi Negi (Utk) 49.01s NR, OR 49.28, Reshma Patel, 2021; 2. Aarti (Har) 49.54, 3. Indu (Har) 50.01.
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