Athletics
Priyanka Goswami, Akshdeep Singh qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics, 2023 World C'ships
Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh, on Monday, qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics and well as the 2023 World Athletics Championships in 20km Racewalk.
Priyanka Goswami
India's Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh, on Monday, qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics and well as the 2023 World Athletics Championships in 20km Racewalk after attaining the automatic qualification standard at the ongoing India Open National Racewalking Competition in Ranchi.
Goswami, who also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, clocked an impressive 1:28.50 to surpass the women's 20km qualification standard of 1:29.20 set for both the Olympics and World Championships.
Priyanka Goswami's timing of 1:28.50 was only 0.05 seconds shy of her own national record, which stands at 1:28.45.
Meanwhile, Bhawana Jat narrowly missed the qualifying standards in women's 20km racewalk as she clocked 1:29.45 to finish second.
National Record for Akshdeep; heartbreak for Suraj
On the other hand, Akshdeep Singh emulated the feat in men's 20km racewalk with a national record effort in Ranchi. He clocked 1:19.55 to become the first-Indian to complete a 20km racewalk in less than 1 hour and 20 minutes. The previous national record stood in the name of Sandeep Kumar at 1:20.16.
Akshdeep also surpassed the qualification standard for 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2023 World Championships set at 1:20.10 for men.
In the men's section, the 21-year-old Suraj Panwar was in for a big heartbreak as he clocked 1:20.11 to miss out on an Olympics and World Championships slot by 0.01 seconds.
