Renu Kadian wins gold at World Race Walking Championship 2022

Indian racewalker Renu Kadian recently won a gold medal at the World Race Walking Championship 2022. Held on March 4th, she represented India at the 10km event and was the only Indian competitor who took part in the Masters category.

Renu Kadian told The Bridge that she did this also so that India would not go unrepresented at the event. Her passion for racewalking despite being 39 years of age has reaped her several rewards.

The competition was held based on the world athletic parameters and the judges were adhering to world athletic rules for judgment. Renu Kadian managed to break the World Race Walking Athlete Championship World Record for walking 10km with a timing of 1hr, 10mins and 59 seconds. Due to her achievement, India has a new world record in the Masters 35-39 year age category, due to it being the first event of its kind.

With over 80 countries taking part in the event, her feat is remarkable. She has previously ranked fifth at the World Race Walk held in Spain in 2018. Following this, she also won a silver medal at the 2019 Master Asian Championship.

What adds to the feat is that Ms. Renu Kadian is a single mother and had to leave her children in the middle of their exams to compete in the event. She has previously spoken out about her personal experience with domestic abuse and even contemplated suicide in 2016 before picking up taekwondo and then racewalking. More recently, she was also felicitated for her racewalking achievements on International Women's Day at Dronacharya Government College Gurugram.

She hopes to continue on her mission to qualify for the Olympics.