Akashdeep Singh, Priyanka Goswami qualify for Paris Olympics 2024

The race walkers secured their berths through the National Open Championships.

Tokyo Olympian Priyanka Goswami and 22-year-old Akshdeep Singh qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 20 km race walk at the 2023 National Open Race Walking Championships held in Morabadi, Jharkhand. Priyanka Goswami stood first in the women’s section finishing the race in 1:28.50 minutes and fell short by 0.05 seconds of surpassing her career-best timing of 1:28.45 seconds. Akashdeep Singh in the men’s section clocked 1:19:55 minutes and broke the National Record created by Sandeep Kumar (1:20:16 seconds)

The two athletes have also qualified for the 2023 World Athletics Championships set to be held in Budapest, Hungary. The qualification mark for women’s 20km is 1:29:20 minutes and for the men’s 20 km it is 1:20:10 minutes. Suraj Panwar and Tokyo Olympian Bhawana Jat narrowly missed out on the qualification mark finishing at 1:20:11 seconds and 1:29:44 seconds respectively. Both athletes finished in the second spot. 

Both Akashdeep and Suraj broke the previous National Record held by Sandeep Kumar simultaneously in a single race. Priyanka Goswami also became the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in the 10 km race walk at the Commonwealth Games.

Akashdeep Singh’s Performance Graph in 2022

2nd -  2022 Indian Race Walking Championships (1:23:14 seconds)

1st - Khelo India University Games, Bengaluru (1:26:44 seconds)

3rd - National Games, Gujarat (1:28:15 seconds)

2nd - National Open Athletic Championships (1:25:26 seconds)

The 2023 National Open Race Walking Championships concludes on Wednesday. Athletes will have the chance to win more Paris 2024 and World Championships berths in the 35km race walk events.

Quotas won by India for Paris Olympics 2024 (Till 14th February 2023)

Bhowneesh Mendiratta (Men’s Shotgun)

Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil (Men’s 10m Air Rifle) 

Swapnil Kusale (Men’s 50m 3 Position)

Akashdeep Singh (Men’s 20km Race Walking)

Priyanka Goswami (Women’s 20km Race Walking)