Race walker Amit Khatri finds silver lining at U-20 Worlds | More sports News – Times of India

The rigorous high-altitude training during snowy days in Nainital, even as the nation battled the Covid-19 pandemic last year, helped Amit Khatri to win a silver medal on the penultimate day of the World Athletics U-20 Championships on a chilly morning in Nairobi on Saturday.
The 17-year-old from Rohtak made his international debut a memorable one, winning India’s first medal in race walk on the world stage. In the end, the pre-race favourite’s inexperience hampered his push for the gold as he lost the lead just before the bell.
As Khatri moved towards the water point on the other side and returned, Kenyan Heristone Wanyonyi, who was hot on the Indian’s heels for most part of the race, sped away to the finish line to win the gold in a personal best time of 42:10.84s. Wanyonyi is the first Kenyan to win a race walk gold.

Khatri, who was in the lead from around the 5,600m mark, never managed to catch up with the Kenyan again but the Indian still emerged as a clear second in 42:17.94s. Spain’s Paul McGrath took the bronze in a personal best time of 42:26.11s. It would have been different story if Khatri had managed to better his personal best, a 40:40.97s, set in January this year. The previous best by an Indian in the event in U-20 Worlds was the 22nd spot bagged by Neeraj Rathi in 2012, Barcelona.
“It was my first international meet and competing at the high-altitude made it more difficult. But I made few mistakes at the water point, my mind got disturbed which cost me the gold. But it was a great experience and going forward it will help me,” Khatri told reporters in a virtual interaction from Nairobi. “The home advantage also helped the Kenyan who trains at the same ground. I was also worried about committing fouls.”
Amit is only the third Indian after Neeraj Chopra and Hima Das to win a U-20 Worlds medal.
International race walker Chandan Singh, who has been training Amit for the last three years, was happy with his ward’s fine show. “I was hoping that he would win the gold but still it’s a fine show by Amit as it was his first international competition,” the coach told TOI from Pune.
Priya finishes fourth
Priya Mohan ran a great last curve for her personal best time of 52.77 seconds to finish for the fourth in women’s 400m final. Imaobong Uko (Nigeria, 51.55s), Kornelia Lesiewicz (Poland, 51.97) and Sylvia Chelangat (Kenya, 52.23) finished on the podium. In the women’s 10,000m race walk, Baljeet Kaur recorded her personal best of 48:58.17 as she finished seventh.