Olympian race walker Priyanka Goswami determined to excel at the World Athletics Championships

With surging COVID-19 cases in India disrupting next month’s National Open Race Walk Championships in Jharkhand, national record holder in women’s 20km race walk, Priyanka Goswami, is trying her best to stay focused.

The 25-year-old Olympian was among several athletes looking forward to the February 5-6 National Open Race Walking Championships in Ranchi. But the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had to postpone the competition due to the Omicron outbreak.

Postponing the national competition due to the pandemic hasn’t upset Priyanka’s overall training plans, but she has slightly tweaked her practice. After all, she is an elite Indian athlete and knows a thing or two about how to handle crunch situations.

“I was looking forward to evaluating my fitness during the national competition in February," she told Sportskeeda. "It has been long since I competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Therefore, Ranchi competition was as important as I wanted to test my performance."

Priyanka’s second goal this year is to compete at the Eugene World Athletics Championships in July. By virtue of winning the national title in February 2021, she has qualified for the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

“The best way to know where you stand at the global level is to compete regularly with the best in the business,” she said of her plans to compete at the Eugene World Athletics Championships.

According to Priyanka, the World Athletics Championships is important as it will act as a stepping stone in her preparations for the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.

“Before I step on to the starting line for the Asian Games, I want to compete in at least one quality competition," she explained. "It will add to my confidence before I am able to tackle formidable Chinese and Japanese at the Asian Games."

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games held last year, the Indian athlete finished a creditable 17th in the women’s 20km race walking event. She clocked 1:32:36 seconds while her personal best and national record was 1:28:45 seconds set in February 2021.

Due to the pandemic it is also uncertain whether the Indian team will compete at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat, Oman on March 4 and 5.

She has been attending the national camp since October last year at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training center in Bengaluru.

“As of now I’m not aware of the selection criteria for the Muscat competition," she said. "But, if my Tokyo Olympic performance is taken into consideration, I should be one of the athletes to find a place in the national team for Muscat."