HUGE! Priyanka Goswami becomes first Indian woman athlete to qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics; Akshdeep Singh books berth too!

In a huge development, Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics as well as for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in 20km Racewalk. This came after both of them attained 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 surpassing the women's 20km qualification standard of 1:29.20 set for both the Olympics and World Championships. Her timing of 1:28.50 was only 0.05 seconds shy of her own national record, which stands at 1:28.45.

 

 

On the other hand, Akshdeep Singh registered a national record in men's 20km racewalk 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.