Paris 2024 Olympics: What is Akshdeep Singh's personal best in 20km race walk?
Akshdeep Singh will represent India in the Men's 20km race walk event at Paris Olympics 2024. The athletics events will take place from August 1 to 10 at Stade de France, the country's largest stadium with a capacity of around 80,000 people.
The race walk will kickstart the proceedings of the track and field events at the Games. In total, six athletes from India will be participating in the race walk events (five men and one woman). Out of them, the biggest medal contender for India will be Akshdeep, who was one of the first two Indians to qualify for the athletics events at the Games.
The 24-year-old recorded his personal best performance and created a national record with a timing of 1:19:55 in the 2023 National Open Race Walking Championships in Jharkhand. This performance also helped him breach the 1:20:10 mark - the men’s 20km race walking qualifying timing for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Although Akshdeep broke his national record in the Men's 20km race walk event, with the personal best timing of 1:19:38 at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition in January 2024 in Chandigarh, all the results were ruled invalid by World Athletics due to faulty readings.
Earlier this year, Akshdeep also secured a Paris 2024 quota in the mixed marathon race walking relay event. The development was confirmed after he and Priyanka Goswami finished 18th in the mixed marathon race walking relay event at the 2024 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya.
However, instead of Akshdeep Singh, Suraj Panwar will partner Priyanka in the mixed relay event. This is because Panwar could not find a place in the men's 20 km race walk event as the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) could send a maximum of three athletes for any event at the Olympics, As a result, he will now stake a claim for the medal in the mixed event.
Recent performances of Akshdeep Singh
Apart from the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships and National Open Race Walking Championships, Akshdeep Singh participated in Zahoracka Dvadsiatka in Borsky Mikulas, Slovakia this year. The event was a part of the World Athletics Race Walking Tour.
Akshdeep finished third in the event with a timing of 1:20:52, with Christopher Linke (1:19:55) and Isaac Palma (1:20:35) winning gold and silver medals, respectively.