Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh, India’s national record holders in women’s and men’s 20km race walk, respectively, have secured an Olympic berth for India in the newly introduced marathon race walk mixed relay. The duo finished 18th at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday, earning one of the 22 Paris Olympics spots available.
The mixed event, which will make its Olympic debut this summer, involves male and female walkers alternating in distances of 12.195km, 10km, 10km, and 10km. Priyanka and Akshdeep clocked 3:05:03, placing them among the top 22 teams.
“It was a good performance considering we were doing this for the first time,” said Priyanka. “We have a greater chance in this relay event at the Olympics to aim for a higher finish.”
Akshdeep, who set a new national record in January, and Priyanka, a 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, held their own in a world-class field. They were placed 20th around the halfway mark before moving up to 18th and remaining there at the finish.
Both Indians found the stop-start format of the race challenging. “It’s a new event for us,” said Akshdeep. “After my first leg, I had a 45-minute break where my body had cooled down quite a bit. Now that we have experienced this, we can train accordingly and do even better at the Olympics.”
In addition to the mixed relay qualification, Priyanka and Akshdeep have also made the cut for the individual 20km event in Paris. Servin Sebastian produced the best finish by an Indian in the individual 20km races, placing 20th with a time of 1:21:39.
