[Watch] Kiran Pahal sets personal best in 200m race in Warsaw athletics meet, clinches gold medal
Indian quarter-miler Kiran Pahal created history in the women’s 200m race as she clinched the gold medal, clocking 23.33 seconds at the Warszawskie Zawody Lekkoatletyczne 2024 athletics meet in Poland on Saturday, July 20.
23.33 seconds recorded by Kiran is the best time of the year by an Indian. Meanwhile, 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, the reigning Asian champion, also competed in the women’s 200m event, clocking 23.53 seconds to finish second in the competition to clinch the silver medal.
Notably, during the recently concluded National Inter-State Athletics Meet in Panchkula, Haryana, Kiran Pahal secured the Paris Olympics 2024 quota after finishing the 400m race in only 50.92 seconds while the entry standard is set at 50.95 seconds by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Additionally, Kiran Pahal scripted history with this timing as she emerged as the second fastest Indian woman runner in the women’s 400m event behind Hima Das, who still holds the national record of 50.79 seconds at the Asian Games in 2018 in Jakarta.
Kiran Pahal becomes first Indian quarter-miler to qualify for Olympics after eight years
It’s important to note that Kiran is the first Indian female quarter-miler to qualify for the Olympic Games after a gap of eight years. Haryana’s Nirmal Sheoran qualified for the Games back in 2016 in Rio.
Moreover, Kiran, with her new timing, also surpassed Hima Das’ previous Inter-State Athletics Athletics Meet timing of 51.13 seconds, bagged in June 2021.
Unfortunately, Kiran Pahal failed to bag a place in the Indian women’s 4x400m relay team as the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has opted to stick to its policy of selecting national campers for the relay team.
Kiran secured gold medals with the 4x400m relay teams in October 2019 in Ranchi and June 2021 in Patiala. Later, in June 2022, she secured the gold medal in the 400m event at the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai, with a timing of 52.57 seconds.
Furthermore, in the Warsaw athletics meet, Jyothi Yarraji clocked 13.29 seconds to top the qualifiers in the women’s 100m hurdles event. However, she opted not to take part in the final.