Indian Open Race Walking Competition: Uttarakhand’s Suraj Panwar has achieved the qualifying standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics in the men’s 20km race walk event at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition, here on Tuesday.
Panwar clocked one hour, 19 minutes and 43 seconds (1:19:43.08) to win the silver medal. The men’s 20km race walking qualifying standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics is 1:20:10.
Akshdeep Singh, who met the Paris qualification last year, successfully defended his title with the timing of 1:19:37.56, bettering his own national record of 1:19:55.00s, which he set during the Nationals last year in February.
Servin claimed the bronze medal on Tuesday with a timing of 1:20:29 and fell short of breaching the entry standard for Paris 2024.
The 23-year-old is the fourth Indian to breach the entry standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics in the men’s 20km race walk event after Akashdeep, Vikas Singh and Paramjeet Bisht.
But a country can have only three racewalkers in an event at the Paris 2024 and now the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has the final say on who among the four will be heading to Pairs.
Meanwhile, in the women’s event, Manju Rani of Punjab won the gold medal with a personal best timing of 1:34:16.67. Payal (1:34:45.10) and Munita Prajapati (1:35:36.16) take silver and bronze medals, respectively.
The 35km men’s and women’s races will be held on Wednesday.