Paris 2024 Olympics: What is Vikash Singh's personal best in 20km race walk?
Vikash Singh will participate in the men's 20km race walk event at Paris Olympics 2024. He along with Akshdeep Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht will be the medal contenders for India in this event.
The 28-year-old delivered his personal best performance in the Asian Race Walking Championships 2023 in Japan. He finished seventh with a timing of 1:20:05 and qualified for the Paris Olympics by breaching the qualification mark of 1:20:10 by a small margin.
After impressive performances in other events and finishing third (1:21:08) in Indian Race Walking Championships 2023, Vikash represented the country in the Asian Games 2023. There, he finished fifth in the 20km race walk event with a timing of 1:27:33.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda after the Asian Games, Vikash Singh expressed his disappointment and said:
“My pace was not as fast as compared to my rivals in the closing stages of the competition. I need to improve my finishing in future to stay in contention for a medal.”
Recent performances of Vikash Singh
Vikash Singh has participated in a total of four events in 2024, with the first being the South Asian & Indian Race Walking Championships in Chandigarh. He finished third with a timing of 39:47 in the 10km race walk. Meanwhile, he had an underwhelming performance of 1:22:41 in the 20km race walk event in the same competition.
Another disappointing performance from Vikash came in World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships, Antalya. With a timing of 1:21:59, he concluded the 20km race walk event with a 23rd place finish.
In the World Athletics Race Walking Tour in Slovakia, Vikash finished 15th with a timing of 1:24:10. Recently, he participated in the 63rd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships and came third with a timing of 1:27:21.
It will be interesting to see how Vikash fares in the Paris Olympics and whether he can win a medal for the country. However, to secure a podium finish, Vikash will have to be pretty quick with his timing.