India’s race walkers endured a disappointing outing at the Tokyo Olympics, with Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh finishing well down the field in the men’s 20km event. Vikash Singh crossed the line in 30th place with a time of 1 hour 22 minutes and 36 seconds, while Paramjeet Singh finished 37th in 1:23:48.
The race was won by Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado in 1:18:55, with Brazil’s Caio Bonfim and reigning world champion Alvaro Martin of Spain taking the silver and bronze medals respectively. Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Massimo Stano of Italy finished fourth.
The Indian contingent’s performance was particularly disappointing given that national record-holder Akshdeep Singh was forced to withdraw after the 6km mark. Singh had been expected to challenge for a top-10 finish, but his withdrawal left India with only two representatives in the race.
The best performance by an Indian in the Olympics in the 20km race walk remains KT Irfan’s 10th-place finish in the 2012 London Games, where he clocked a time of 1:20:21.
Later in the day, Priyanka Goswami will compete in the women’s 20km race walk event, where she will be hoping to improve on India’s disappointing performance in the men’s event.
