MUSCAT, Mar 5: Olympian Priyanka Goswami and Eknath Turambekar set national records in the women’s and men’s 35km events respectively in the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships, although they finished way below the medal bracket here on Saturday.
Goswami and Turambekar finished 20th and 27th respectively in hot conditions that added to the challenge of the 2km loop near the Oman Convention Centre.
Goswami clocked 3 hour 13 minutes and 19 seconds in her maiden appearance in a 35km event, while Turambekar clocked 2:45:17s in his second competition over the distance.
Glenda Morejon of Ecuador won the women’s event in 2:48:33s while Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden took the gold in men’s race with a timing of 2:36:14s.
The previous men’s and women’s 35km race walk national records were in the name of Ram Baboo (2:46:31s) and Ramandeep Kaur (3:15:17s) respectively, set during the National Open Championships in September 2021.
Later, 35-year-old Sandeep Kumar secured a creditable 13th-place finish in the men’s 20km event, clocking 1:26:45s.
Despite a two-minute penalty being added to his time for getting a third red card on the home stretch and sliding seven positions, it was his best placing in a World Athletics event, improving on the 20th place in the 50km in the World Race Walking Cup in 2014.
Youngster Suraj Panwar finished 25th with a personal best time of 1:28:18s.
Goswami, who had competed in 20km event in Tokyo Olympics last year and had finished 17th, set a scorching pace early in the race, leading through 16.5km. But she conceded the lead after completing 17km mark in 1:23:21s, In rising heat, the second half of the race made it tough for her to stay on course but she showed resilience to complete the distance.
Other Indians in the fray in the men’s 35km event, Chandan Singh (2:51:40s) and Ram Baboo (3:07:14s) finished 38th and 46th respectively.
On Friday, the race walking trio of Bhawna Jat, Ravina and Munita Prajapati had scripted history by winning the country’s maiden women’s 20km team medal, a bronze. (PTI)
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