World Athletics Championships 2022: Blame it on Eugene Weather and the new coaching system

Despite appointing former Olympian Tatiana Sibileva as the new race-walking coach in March 2022, India failed to leave a substantial mark at the World Athletics Championships.

Both Priyanka Goswami and Sandeep Kumar Punia competing in Eugene in the 20km race walk event in their respective categories on Friday, July 15, failed to come close to their personal best.

Priyanka clocked 1:39:42 seconds to finish 34th in the field of 36 competitors, while Punia was 40th out of 43 competitors. Punia's time was 1:31:58. The change in technique and training program under the Russian coach wasn’t as productive as expected.

Peru’s Kimberly Garcia Leon won historic gold and ended Chinese domination with a time of 1:26:58. Katarzyna Zdzieblo of Poland overtook the tiring Chinese Shijie Qieyang in the closing stages of the race to win silver with a time of 1:27:31. Shijie settled for bronze, clocking 1:27:56.

Poor showing by Indian race-walkers at World Athletics Championships 2022

Priyanka partially blamed Eugene's afternoon weather for fading away at the World Athletics Championships.

Priyanka told Sportskeeda during the post-race interaction:

“The sun was bright. I wasn’t able to adapt to the situation.”

The Indian team has been training in Chula Vista for the past two-weeks, but still struggled to adapt to the local weather conditions.

Apart from the local weather, the poor race walk technique also impacted Indian athletes' performance at the World Athletics Championships. Priyanka was warned thrice due to loss of contact with the ground.

As per the rules of the competition, competitors shouldn't lose contact with the ground. Three warnings meant a two-minute halt in the penalty area.

The Russian coach has been emphasizing the technique for the past four months but has failed to enforce any changes so far.

In the men’s competition, Punia briefly stayed behind the leading pack of more than ten athletes. Punia got first warning in the opening 5km of the race and gradually drifted away from the leading bunch of athletes.

He eventually finished at the bottom of the table. Of the 43 competitors, Punia's position was 40th, clocking 1:31:58 seconds. Punia’s personal best and national record is 1:20:16, which he clocked in 2021 in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

The Japanese duo of Toshikazu Yamanishi (1:19:07) and Koki Ikeda (1:19:14) won gold and silver respectively, while Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden took home bronze (1:19:18).

Radha Krishnan Nair, the chief coach, said the race should have been conducted early in the morning.

He said:

“The local weather during the day isn’t good to conduct long distance event."