India's Priyanka Goswami has clocked a personal best time of 43:38.83s to win the silver medal in the women's 10,000m race walk final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday.
The athlete who hails from Uttar Pradesh scripted history as she became the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walk at the Commonwealth Games. Harminder Singh was the first Indian to have won a medal (bronze) in race walk in the 20km event in 2010 CWG in Delhi.
The 26-year-old has added a third medal in track and field for India in Birmingham. India had earlier won a bronze medal in athletics through Tejaswin Shankar in the men's high jump and a silver in men's long jump through Murali Sreeshankar respectively.
Meanwhile, Australia's Jemima Montag who set a Games record and personal best of 42:34.30s won the gold medal. Emily Wamusyi Ngii of Kenya with a timing of 43:50.86s emerged third in the race behind Priyanka.
However, it was a disappointing finish from another Indian, Bhawana Jat, as she emerged last in eighth place. Despite finishing last out of all the finalists, Bhawana managed to clock a personal best time of 47:13.14s.
"This is the first Commonwealth Games medal in walking for an Indian woman so I'm really pleased to have created a piece of history," Goswami said after the event.
"I wasn't thinking about the Australian (gold medallist Jemima Montag), when you look at what we did at the Olympics in Tokyo and the world championships last month she is a better walker than me. I just concentrated on my own race, and I hope to close the gap on her (in the future) step-by-step."
Asked about the mascots and fingernails she was having, Priyanka said, "I have a Lord Krishna and I take him with me to every competition and he brought me luck today.”
"I have also painted my nails with the flags of the country where I compete, so I have England for the Commonwealth Games, Japan for the Olympic Games, Spain because I raced there, and some other flags as well."
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)