Paris Olympics: Indians falter in men's, women’s 20km race walk as Athletics competitions start (Ld)

Paris, Aug 1 (IANS) Priyanka Goswami finished 41st in the women’s 20km race walk while Vikash Singh was ranked 30th and Paramjeet Singh Bisht 37 in the men's race walk event at the Olympic Games on Thursday. The 28-year-old Priyanka, the only Indian participant in the women's event in Paris, clocked 1:39:55 at the Trocadero on her second Olympic appearance.

On the opening day of the Athletics competitions in Paris on Thursday, Yang Jia Yu of China won the gold medal with a season-best time of 1:25:54. Spain’s Maria Perez clocked her 1:26:19 to bag silver and Australia's Jemima Montag took bronze with an Oceania Record of 1:26:25.

At Tokyo 2020, Goswami was in the lead of the 20km race walk event at the halfway mark but slipped down to finish 17th.

However, on Thursday, the 28-year-old from Kolkata, West Bengal who claimed the silver medal in the 10k walk in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and in the 20k walk in the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, could not improve on her performance in Tokyo.

Earlier, Vikash was the fastest among the three Indian athletes racing in the event, clocking 1:22:36 in the men's 20km race walk. Fellow Indian Paramjeet, on his Olympic debut, clocked 1:23:48.

However, national record holder Akshdeep Singh did not finish as he bowed out after just 6 kilometres.

India have not won a medal in the 20km race walk event at the Olympics.

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