After meeting the qualifying standards in the men’s and women’s 20km race walk at the National Open Race Walking Championships 2023 in Morabadi, Jharkhand, on February 14, India’s Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics and World Athletics Championships 2023.
In the men’s 20km race walk, Akshdeep Singh set a new national record by winning the gold medal in 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 55 seconds. At the Ranchi National Race Walking Championships in 2021, Sandeep Kumar set a previous national record of 1:20:16, which Akshdeep bested. The timing also saw Akshdeep Singh break the 1:20:10 barrier, which is the male 20km race walking qualifying time for the Budapest 2023 world championships and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Suraj Panwar, who won the silver medal, finished in 1:20:11, breaking the previous national record as well, but narrowly missed both the qualifying standards. Vikash Singh, who won bronze for the men, finished in 1:21:08.
Priyanka Goswami, a Tokyo Olympian who won silver in the 10,000-meter race walk at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, finished first in the women’s 20km race walk event in Morabadi with a time of 1:28:50, which is five seconds slower than her own national record.
Priyanka Goswami’s time was quicker than the qualifying time of 1:29:20 for the women’s 20km race walk at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the 2023 world championships.
Goswami’s fellow Tokyo Olympian Bhawna Jat clocked 1:29:44 to bag the silver medal but missed the quota places. With a time of 1:31:03, Sonal Sukhwal took home the bronze medal.
On February 15, the National Open Race Walking Championships come to an end. Athletes will have the chance to win more Paris 2024 and world championships berths in the 35km race walk events.
