Uttar Pradesh girl breaks national record, walks into Tokyo Olympics

Lucknow: Ten years ago, this UP girl’s resolve for victory on tracks was for winning a bag that was at stake. On Saturday, it culminated into a national record and a ticket to Tokyo for this year’s rescheduled Olympic Games and the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Oregon. Priyanka Goswami, 25, shattered the national record in the 20-km walk at the 8th open national and 4th international race walking championship in Ranchi on Saturday with a timing of 1:28:45. She broke Bhawna Jat’s record of 1:29.54 set at the same event last year. This, however, was not a fluke. After joining the Railways in March 2018 through sports quota, Priyanka won two silver medals at national level in 2017-2018.

She also bagged gold in the all-India railway competition (2018) and has participated in World Walk Championship in Italy (Rome) and in Asian Walk Championship Japan. “I had made up my mind last year when I missed the event by a narrow margin of 36 seconds. It was then that I decided to make it to the international meet this year. Luckily, I got two qualifications (World Cup and Olympic),” Priyanka told TOI from Ranchi.

“I am not able to believe this is true as I am emotionally overwhelmed. Now, I want to win gold for my country,” added Priyanka, who is currently being trained by two-time Olympian Gurmeet Singh. Sandeep Kumar (Haryana) and Rahul Kumar also qualified for the World Athletics Championships in the men’s category.