Ram Baboo becomes first Indian to record an official men's marathon race walk national record

Ram Baboo clinched the title in the first-ever official men's marathon race walking event at the India Open Race Walking Competition in Chandigarh on Saturday.

Ram Baboo clocked 3:09:16.46s to register India's first national record in this event, which was officially recognised by World Athletics late last year.

"The World Athletics Council approved the introduction of new official senior road distances for race walking events, to help put the remarkable achievements by athletes into context, make the events more relatable for fans, and encourage mass participation, " World Athletics said in a press release.

Ram finished ahead of the veteran race walker Sandeep Kumar (3:11:17.61s) by 2 minutes. Meanwhile, Reesham Midhun of Telangana won a bronze medal with 3:12:10.71s.

In the women's event, Manju pipped the experienced Priyanka Goswami to clinch the title with 3:33:24.00s. Priyanka (3:37:25.00s) and Payal (3:39:57.00s) settled for silver & bronze Medals.

Hence, she will be the national record holder in the women's marathon racewalk event, based on the ratification from the Athletics Federation of India.

These three athletes were the only ones to finish the inaugural national women's 42.190km marathon race walk event in under 4 hours.