2022 World Athletics Championships: Priyanka Goswami finishes 34th in Women's 20km Racewalk; Sandeep 40th

India has endured a disappointing start to their 2022 World Athletics Campaign in Oregon with the country's top racewalkers failing to live up to their billing in the 20km event. While Priyanka Goswami finished 34th in the women's section, Sandeep Kumar had an even worse outing to finish 40th in men's 20km racewalk.

Competing in her first World Athletics Championships, Priyanka started off decently and was placed 20th after the first 5kms. The 26-year-old, however, fell down the radar quite drastically and clocked 1:39:42 to finish 34th after having to spend some time in the penalty zone.

Though Priyanka's run remained in Oregon unimpressive, her 34th placed finish is the best-ever for an Indian woman at the World Championships as she went past Kushbir Kaur's 35th in 2013.

Sandeep Kumar, on the other hand, stood 24th after the first 5km before he started getting slapped with red cards for bent knee. Much like Priyanka, Sandeep too had to spend some time in the penalty zone after receiving three red cards during the race.

The armyman eventually finished 40th out of the total 45 athletes by clocking 1:31:58 - more than 11 minutes down from his personal best.