Priyanka Goswami walks into the report books

When race walker Priyanka Goswami missed the 20km Olympic reduce by a slender margin on the nationals final 12 months February, she was left momentarily dejected. The 24-year-old walker knew it was solely a matter of time that she booked a spot for the megaevent however little did she know again then {that a} pandemic would carry all sporting motion to a halt for nearly a 12 months.
Her wait ended on Saturday, on the race stroll nationals in Ranchi the place she bagged the gold, clocking a nationwide record-shattering time of 1:28:45s and within the course of earned a spot for the Tokyo Games slated for July this 12 months. Priyanka erased Bahavna Jat’s 1:29:54 mark set final 12 months on the similar occasion the place the 2020 champion missed the Games reduce.
In the boys’s 20km occasion, seasoned walker Sandeep Kumar additionally earned an Olympic sport and a nationwide report by clocking 1:20:16s as runner up Rahul Kumar too completed throughout the Games mark.
For 24-year-old Priyanka, incomes an Olympic spot seems like an enormous burden off her shoulder. She together with Sandeep have been coaching beneath nationwide coach Gurmeet Singh in Bengaluru since 2019. After the lockdown restrictions had been lifted the very first thing she needed to work on was decreasing her weight. Priyanka was 49 kilograms when she rejoined the camp however coach Gurmeet devised a correct weight loss plan and coaching plan to chop it right down to 44.
“ I have been really working hard and this was our first event since last year and I wanted to give my best. I am over the moon. When I took up athletics I did not even know what the Olympics was but today I have earned a berth for it,” says Priyanka in her typical jovial tone. Priyanka could be very common among the many campers and has sizeable fan-following, 11,100 followers to be exact, on Instagram.
Sandeep Kumar additionally earned an Olympic sport
Modelling aspirations
Priyanka believes all athletes, owing to their gruelling coaching schedules, must have a life past sports activities. The Uttar Pradesh lady’s second love is style and clothes and her mom is her mentor.
“I wanted to take up fashion designing but then things did not fall in place. Now my mom tells me about the latest fashion trends. She watches a lot of television and that’s where she learns from,” Priyanka says.
Her photoshoot periods have taken a backseat for now because of the lockdown however she guarantees to submit extra often now. “Aab dukan fir se khulegi . (I will become more active now),” she says whereas breaking out into laughter.
Priyanka is candid in admitting that she’s having fun with the media consideration submit her record-breaking race on Saturday. She is actually not amongst those that attempt to keep away from the digicam. “I always ask my friends to take good pictures of me while I compete. I love Nike’s sportswear and who knows they’ll sign me up someday,” she says