The 22-year-old Akshdeep Singh became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics. In the National Open Race Walking Championships 2023 in Morabadi (Ranchi, Jharkhand), he met the qualifying standards in the men’s 20km race walk event for both Paris 2024 Olympics and World Athletics Championships 2023.
Akshdeep Singh set a new national record
On Tuesday (14th February), Akshdeep Singh won the Gold medal in the men’s 20km race walk event after setting a new national record.
While the qualifying standard timing has been set to 1 hour 20 minutes and 10 seconds for the men’s 20km race walk event for both Paris 2024 Olympics and the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships, Akshdeep took 1 hour 19 minutes and 55 seconds to complete the race. So, the youngster has booked his ticket to represent his country in Paris 2024 and Budapest 2023.
During that successful event, Akshdeep broke the previous national record of Sandeep Kumar’s 1 hour 20 minutes and 16 seconds (National Race Walking Championships 2021 at Ranchi).
National Open Race Walking Championships 2023: Men’s 20km race walk – Suraj Panwar just missed the qualifying standards
Even the sliver-medalist Suraj Panwar also managed a faster record than previous national record holder Sandeep Kumar by finishing the race walk event in 1:20:11. However, the Summer Youth Olympics 2018 silver medal winner (Boys' 5 km walk) was only second late to meet the qualifying standard for both Paris 2024 Olympics and the Budapest 2023.
Meanwhile, Vikash Singh won the bronze medal in the men’s 20km race walk event in the National Open Race Walking Championships 2023 by clocking 1:21:08.
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