Akshdeep Singh (born 22 November 1999) is an Indian athlete from Punjab who competes in the 20 kilometres race walk. He holds the Indian National record in 20km race walk. [1] He qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in the 20 km race walk [2] and the mixed marathon race walking, along with Priyanka Goswami. [3] [4]
Singh was born in Kahneke village, Barnala district, Punjab. His father is a farmer. He passed his first five classes from the government school of his village and he did his tenth grade studies from the nearby village of Kaleke. Singh has completed his graduation from Punjabi University Patiala. [2] In an interview with Sportstar, he said that his dream as a 10 year old was to join Indian Army, so he started running to pass the recruitment drive. The trajectory of Akshdeep's life changed when he met his first athletics coach, Jaspreet Singh. [5]
Singh and Priyanka Goswami qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon event, finishing 18th in the World Race Walking Team Championship in Antalya, Turkey on 21 April 2024. [6] [7] The Indian duo clocked 3:05:03 to meet the qualifying mark. On 30 January 2024, he set the National record at the South Asian and Indian Race Walking Championships at Chandigarh clocking 1:19:38. [1]
On 14 February 2023, he won the gold medal in the 20 km race walk at the Indian Race Walking Championships at Ranchi clocking 1:19:55. [8] Later, on 19 March 2023, he took part in the 47th All Japan race walking meet and finished 12th. In October 2022, he won a silver medal at the National Open Athletics Championships at Sree Kantheerava Outdoor Stadium in Bengaluru. [8] In 2022, he also won the inter-university gold at Moodbidri, Karnataka on 5 January and the Khelo India University Games in May at Bengaluru. [8]
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Gurmeet Singh is an Indian athlete who competes in the 20 kilometres race walk event. He is a current Indian record holder in the 20 km race walk, which he set in the Indian Grand Prix I in Patiala in May 2011. Gurmeet is sponsored by the Mittal Champions Trust, an initiative run by steel magnate Lakshmi N. Mittal. He is one of the three Indian athletes who qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in 20 km race walk event with an 'A' qualification standard (1:22:30). He achieved this berth in the 18th Dublin International Grand Prix in Ireland after finishing sixth with a time of 1:22:05.
Naib subedar Irfan Kolothum Thodi is an Indian athlete and Indian Army junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) from Malappuram, Kerala.
Khushbir Kaur is an Indian athlete, a 20-kilometre racewalker. She first came into limelight after winning bronze in the 10,000-metre (6.2 mi) walk race at the 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships held at Colombo, Sri Lanka. She participated in the 2013 World Championships in the 20 km walk category. She clocked 1:34:28 and finished 39th. At the 2014 Asian walking championships in Japan, she came second with a timing of 1:33:07 and bettered her own national record of 1:33:37. In the same year, she became the first Indian woman to win a silver at the Asian Games. She received the Arjuna Award in 2017 after her consecutive victories in International sports events.
Manish Singh Rawat is a male Indian racewalker. He competes in the 20 km and the 50 km events and is employed by the Uttarakhand State Police. He has been part of the Indian racewalking squad for the past 3 years.
Seaman Muhammed Anas Yahiya is an Indian sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres distance. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 400 metres and the 4 × 400 m relay, and holds the national record (45.24) in the 400 meters, which he set at the 2019 Czech Athletics Championships. And finally he won a gold medal at the men's 4×400 metres relay event at the 2022 Asian Games.
Brian Daniel Pintado Álvarez is an Ecuadorian racewalker, two-time Pan American Games champion and two-time Olympic Medallist.
Jemima Montag is an Australian Olympic racewalker. She won the silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, won bronze medals in the 20 km walk and the Marathon walk relay in the Paris 2024 Olympics, and is a two-time Commonwealth Games champion.
India competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. India made its official debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and has appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1920. The Games marked the nation's 25th appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Bhawna Jat is an Indian racewalker from Rajasthan who participated in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, finishing on 32nd position in 20 kilometres race walk.
Priyanka Goswami is an Indian athlete who competes in the 20 kilometres race walk. She represented India at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing in 17th position. She won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters walk at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walk with a silver in the 10,000m event. She qualified for the Paris Olympics by meeting the mark at the Indian Open National Race Walking Competition in Ranchi on 14 February 2023.
Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were held between 1 and 11 August 2024, featuring a total of 48 medal events across three distinct sets: track and field, road running, and racewalking. Four venues were used: Pont d'Iéna for race walking, Hôtel de Ville and Les Invalides for the start and end points of the marathon races, and Stade de France for the track and field events.
This article details the qualifying phase for athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics. More than 1,800 athletes, with an equal split between men and women, will compete across forty-eight medal events at the Games. The qualification window for the marathon races will occur from 1 November 2022 to 30 April 2024; for the 10,000 metres, combined events, racewalks, and relays from 31 December 2022 to 30 June 2024; and for the remaining events on the program lineup from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.
The marathon race walk mixed relay is a racewalking mixed relay event over the marathon distance that was first contested at the 2024 Summer Olympics on 7 August.
India competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from 19 to 27 August 2023.
Vikash Singh is an Indian athlete from Delhi. He takes part in 20km race walk. He is selected to represent India in the 2024 Summer Olympics at Paris.
Paramjeet Singh Bisht is an Indian athlete from Uttarakhand. He takes part in 20km race walk. He is selected to represent India in the 2024 Summer Olympics at Paris.
Suraj Panwar is an Indian athlete from Uttarakhand. He takes part in 20km race walk. He is selected to represent India in the 2024 Summer Olympics at Paris in 20 km marathon race walking mixed relay team along with Priyanka Goswami. He won a silver at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in men's 20 km race walk.