Juned Khan (Haryana) and Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) respectively rewrote the men's and women's 35km national walking records that took place in Ranchi (IND) by winning the ninth Indian Walking Championship on Sunday 17 April.
35km women
23-year-old Ramandeep Kaur, who won in 3:00:04, cut more than 13 minutes to Priyanka Goswami's previous national record set at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat last month (3:13:19).
His Punjab teammate Manju was together up to 15km, but while Ramandeep Kaur soon gained a comfortable lead, Manju had to settle for second place in 3:07:49 however below Priyanka Goswami's previous record.
Third place in Payal in 3:15:47
35km men
In the men's race, 22-year-old Juned Khan overtook Ram Baboo and Chandan Singh who had been with him up to 20km and won in 2:40:16, lowering the national record by five minutes. (Previous of 2:47:12 established in Muscat belonged to Eknath Sambhaji Turambekar).
Second place to Ram Baboo in 2:41:30
Third place to Chandan Singh in 2:42:02
Eknath Sambhaji Turambekar who was among the four who had remained in the lead up to 20km retired after remaining in second position with 10km to go.
10km U20 men
Victory to Sachin Bohra (Uttarakhand) in 43:12, which he exceeded by only one second in the second classified.
Second place to Rohit Kumar Yadav of Gujarat in 43:13
Third place in Aditya Negi (Uttarakhand) in 44:27
Adita Negi and Arvind Singh (Rajasthan) were the leaders of the mock halfway race (22:00), but while the former continued with his pace to conquer the bronze, the latter lost position after position and finished in seventh place.
10km U10 women
Deepika Sharma (Rajasthan) won the women's U20 10km race in 51:32 with an 11-second lead over the runner-up.
Second place to Bharti Bhadana (Haryana) in 52:23
Third place in Indu (Haryana) got the bronze in 52:40.
Also in the women's U20 race the starting leader, Mansi Negi (Uttarakhand), had an 18 second lead in the middle of the race, but was unable to keep pace, finishing fifth behind Mokavi Muthurathinam (Tamil Nadu).
The two 20km on Saturday 16 April 2022
20km men
Sandeep Kumar (Haryana) won with a time of 1:22:05, he obtained his fourth national title after 2013, 2017, 2020 and 2021. For the national record holder (1:20:16, obtained in Ranchi in 2021), who finished 13th in the last edition of the World Race Walking Team Championship in Muscat, 5 seconds less would have been enough to get the standard entry for the Asian Games.
For the other podium positions Akshdeep Singh (Punjab) took the silver medal with a mark of 1:23:14, substantially lowering his previous best of 1:26:12 which he had always obtained in Ranchi the 15.2.2020.
Third place and bronze medal to Paramjeet Singh Bisht (Maharashtra) with a mark of 1:23:27. Also for him this performance is the new personal best that improves by 3:13 the time of 1:26:40 obtained at Moodbidri on 5.1.2022
Moreover the result obtained by Amit Khatri is significant.
The 18-year-old, who surprisingly had won a silver medal at the last U20 World Championships and was dramatically disqualified at the recent World Team Brand Championships, when he was walking for a medal in 10km U20, made his double-distance debut with a fourth place in a interesting mark of 1:23:42, just 15 seconds from third place.
20km women
In the women's event, Ravina (Haryana), 24year old, won the Indian title, for the second time in her career (she won in the 2018 edition) with a time of 1:31:52, a personal best beaten by more than two minutes and getting closer at the lowest for the Eugene Worlds (1:31:00).
Second place to Bhawna Jat (Rajasthan) in 1:32:31
Third place in Sonal Sukhwal (Rajasthan) in 1:32:40
This 20 km did not see the participation of the best Indian specialist of today, Priyanka, already with entry standard for Oregon, due to her time of 1:28:45, set in the edition of the 2021 championships, while the second and third ranked have both achieved qualification standards for the Asian Games.
(Photos thanks to Rahul Pawar - IND)