Chandigarh, Feb 20 (IANS) Competitors at the 13th edition of the Indian Open Race Walk Competition in Chandigarh will race over two newly-introduced events — the 21km (half marathon walk) and 42km (full marathon walk) in senior men and women — for the first time this season. The two-day domestic race walk competition will be conducted on Saturday and Sunday at the picturesque Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh.
“The World Athletics—global governing body in track and field–had introduced half-marathon walk and full marathon walk events last year,” chief national athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair said. “It is for the first time that Indian athletes will compete in the newly introduced events,” he said.
Till the 2025 season, the standard distance in senior men and women was 20km and 35km in all competitions sanctioned by World Athletics.
The main attraction during the two-day extravaganza will be the men’s half-marathon walk (21km). Four Paris Olympians –Akshdeep Singh, Paramjeet Singh Bisht, Suraj Panwar, and Vikash Singh — will be seen in action on Sunday.
All four will be battling with Servin Sebastain, who had dominated the 2025 season and represented India at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in Japan. Servin is all set to compete in the 21km event. “Preparation has been on track. I’m healthy and expect good performance on Sunday,” Servin said.
Germany’s promising race walker, Frederick Weigel, is the lone foreign athlete in the men’s 21km event.
The field is equally impressive in the men’s full marathon walk (42km). Olympian and Commonwealth Games medallist (10km walk), Sandeep Kumar, is prominent among 31 athletes registered for the competition.
Former World U20 medallist, Amit, and Ram Baboo will also test their endurance over a full marathon walk event in Chandigarh.
In the women’s full marathon walk, Olympian Priyanka Goswami will battle with Payal (Uttarakhand) and Manju (Punjab) for supremacy. Only nine athletes have entered for the women’s full marathon walk.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has also invited three foreign race walk judges, including one from Malaysia, to oversee the two-day competition. Along with foreign officials, Indian judges will also coordinate the smooth conduct of the competition.
Apart from full marathon walk and half marathon walk, competition will also be held in senior men’s and women’s 10km. The distance for U20 will be 5km.
The competition on Saturday and Sunday will commence at 7 am.
Saturday and the schedule will include Full marathon walk (men and women); 10km race walk (men and women);
Sunday: Half-marathon walk (men and women), 5km race walk (U20 men and women).
–IANS
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