"My pace was not as fast" - Indian race walker Vikas Kumar admits reason behind missing medal at Asian Games 2023

A warm autumn weather in Hangzhou, combined with a not-so-fast finish, proved costly for Indian race walkers during the morning session of day one of the athletics competition at the 19th Asian Games in China on Friday.

In the men’s 20km event, India’s Vikash Singh finished fifth with a time of 1:27:33. Olympian Priyanka Goswami also failed to meet expectations, clocking 1:43:07 to finish fifth in the women’s 20km race walk. India’s seasoned race walker, Sandeep Kumar however, was disqualified at the 10km mark of the men’s race.

Singh candidly admitted that his average speed over the last 5km of the race wasn’t good enough to earn him a medal.

“My pace was not as fast as compared to my rivals in the closing stages of the competition,” he told Sportskeeda over the phone from Hangzhou. “I need to improve my finishing in future to stay in contention for a medal.”

The 27-year-old Asian bronze medalist from Delhi has a personal and season best of 1:20:05, which he achieved in March in Japan. However, he finished 27 at last month’s Budapest World Athletics Championships in Hungary with a time of 1:21:58.

“I wanted to clock below 1:22 in Hangzhou but wasn’t successful,” Singh added.

By international standards, it was a conservative start to the men's 20km race walk. The leading group, including the two Chinese and Japanese athletes, covered the opening 10km in 42:29. Both Kumar and Singh were behind the leading group.

Subsequently, both the Indians lost contact with the leading bunch. While Singh lost his rhythm temporarily due to a race official erroneously stopping him, Kumar was disqualified for violating race-walking rules. Competitors are warned for running, and after three warnings or red cards, the athlete is disqualified.

“I was wondering why the race official was asking me to stop as I wasn’t given any red card,” Singh said.

In the men’s race, it was a 1-2 for China. Jun Zhang Jun won gold with a time of 1:23:00, Zhaozhao Wang claimed silver with a time of 1:24:08, and Japan’s Yutaro Murayama took home bronze with a time of 1:24:41.

Chinese athletes also dominated the women’s 20km race walk. Jiayu Yang successfully retained her Asian Games title with a winning time of 1:30:03. Her compatriot, Zhenxia MA, won silver with a time of 1:30:04, and Japan’s Nanako Fuji clocked 1:33:49 to win bronze in the field comprising eight athletes.

India’s Priyanka surged ahead to lead the group between 2km to 3km, but thereafter she wasn’t able to sustain her efforts and eventually finished fifth with a time of 1:43:07.