Tokyo Olympics 2020: Bhawna Jat seals Olympic berth with record win at 7th National Race Walk Championships

What's the story?

Indian female race walker Bhawana Jat clinched a Tokyo Olympics 2020 quota spot after she clocked a record time of 1 hour, 29 minutes and 54 seconds to bring about her win at the 7th National Race Walk Championships held at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

The background

The 7th National Race Walk Championship was held in Ranchi with the Tokyo Olympics 2020 qualification spot on offer for both the men and women. The men's race walk qualification standard time was 1 hour 20 minutes with the women's race walk qualification standard time set at 1 hour 31 minutes.

The heart of the matter

The 7th National Race Walk Championships concluded in the morning today with Indian race walkers Sandeep Kumar and Bhawana Jat clinching the Men's and Women's titles respectively.

Bhawana Jat clocked a time of 1 Hour, 29 Minutes and 54 Seconds (1:29:54) to win the Women’s 20km walk to set the national record. In addition to the record, Jat managed to stay under the 1:31:00 mark to secure her spot at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 later this year.

Fellow Indian race walker Priyanka Goswami missed out with an excrutiatingly narrow timing of 1:31:36, just 36 seconds slower than the Tokyo qualification standard time.

Big result in Women's 20km, Bhawna Jat of #Rajasthan clocks 1:29.54 (Olympic Qualification time- 1:31.00)7th National #RaceWalk Championships 2020 #RanchiPriyanka Goswami narrowly miss Oly Q as she clocked 1:31.36@BhutaniRahul @g_rajaraman pic.twitter.com/ChtUexgIuw

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) February 15, 2020

The Men's Race Walk Championship was won by Sandeep Kumar with a clocked timing of 1:21:34 but he was unfortunate to miss out on the Tokyo Olympics 2020 qualification by just 34 seconds. This was Sandeep Kumar's best performance in a Race Walk championship post his best performance that was clocked way back in 2016.

Yet, courtesy of a record setting time, India's Bhawana Jat became the first Indian woman ever to walk under a timing of 1 hour 30 minutes. On her way to setting the Olympics qualification time,Jat covered the distance of 5 km in a time of 22:00, 10 km in 44:22, 15 km in 67:01 and 20 km in 1:29:54.

What's next?

Bhawana Jat will get the chance to add to India's Tokyo Olympics 2020 medal tally later this year while Sandeep Kumar will aim to seal his qualification for the Tokyo Olympics at the Asian Race Walk Championship to be held next month in Japan.