Race walker Priyanka picking up steam in Olympics year

New Delhi, March 3

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National record holder Priyanka Goswami clocked her best time outside the country to finish a creditable seventh in a top-class field in the 20km event at the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix in Taicang today.

Goswami, who has already qualified for the Paris Olympics, clocked 1 hour, 29 minutes and 48 seconds in the World Athletics Race Walking Tour gold label meet. This was the third best time of her career. Her two best times — 1:28:45 (national record) in 2021 and 1:28:50 in 2023 — both came in Ranchi.

There were five Chinese athletes in the top-six, with Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist Zhenxia MA taking the title with a time of 1:26:07. Jiayu Yang, the 2017 world champion and Hangzhou Asian Games gold medallist, was second in 1:26:07. Hong Liu, the 36-year-old four-time world champion and 2016 Olympics gold and 2020 Games bronze winner, was third in 1:26:47. Shijie Qeeyang, who won gold in the 2012 London Olympics, was fourth with a time of 1:27:05.

The 27-year-old Goswami has been training for the last two months under coach Brent Vallance at a high-altitude centre near Canberra in Australia as part of her preparation for the Paris Olympics. “3rd personal best… feeling incredibly proud of this achievement,” Goswami wrote in a post. — PTI

Chitravel finishes 11th after below-par jump

Glasgow: Asian Games bronze medallist Praveen Chitravel was far from his personal best, leaping 16.45 metres to finish 11th in the men’s triple jump event of the World Indoor Championships here. It was the season’s best effort for the 22-year-old, who has a national record of 17.37m.

Bol crushes record

Dutch runner Femke Bol rewrote her own world record in the indoor 400 metres on Saturday, while Britain’s Josh Kerr steamrolled to victory in the men’s 3,000 to the delight of the home crowd at the World Indoor Championships. The 24-year-old 400 hurdles specialist made it look effortless, leading from the gun to clock 49.17 seconds and beat the previous mark of 49.24 she set two weeks ago at the Dutch national championships. “It was such a strong race, I knew I had to go out fast. My coach said to me ‘You can run faster’, but to be honest I just wanted to win,” said Bol, gold medallist in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay at the outdoor World Championships last year. —Agencies