Priyanka is on a mission to elucidate her Walk of life
Priyanka is on a mission to elucidate her Walk of life: Priyanka Goswami has got a new desire these days. These days all she wants is to ask all those she meets for the first time a very “simple” question: “What do you know about race walking?”
Bringing pride to her country, Priyanka won a historic silver in the 10,000 meters racewalking event. She won the silver medal at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. With her win, the 26-year-old is on a quest to change people’s perception of the sport.
She has registered herself as the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walk at the Commonwealth Games. On this occasion, she has taken the onus upon herself to spread awareness about the sport.
“After winning a medal, we have been going to felicitations organized for us. The first thing I do is ask a very simple question: who knows about race walking?” she gave this statement to the Indian Express in an event. The event was to mark HSBC bank partnering with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). The aim of the event was to promote women athletes.
And that is what she did at that event on Monday. “I saw just four or five people raised their hands, so it is an improvement,” she reacted with a laugh.
Imagine, what is the normal response she gets to her question?
“Normally people do not know anything about the sport, And that is what makes me a little angry because we have won medals in the sport.”
“Mostly people wonder why we walk weirdly. That is the most common question I get. I have to explain to them that the rules of the sport say that we can not bend our knees and have to have one foot on the ground at all times. I have to also tell them that while you run on your toes, in race walking, you have to land on your heel. People may dismiss racewalking as just walking, but it is actually a very technical sport,” she says.
When she took up the sport in 2011 as an alternative to gymnastics and athletics, Priyanka did not fathom how technical the sport would be. She too had this notion that it was just about walking fast.
“I still do not think my technique is even near perfection. It is one event when you can not rest on your laurels. There are judges constantly keeping an eye on you. My timing in Birmingham was 43 minutes (43:38.83) for the 10 km meaning you have to maintain that technique and stride for so long. It is very challenging,” she said.
Birmingham was the first time since the year 2014. She competed on a track since her pet event, the 20 km race-walk becoming a national record holder.
Race walking is generally a road race as a sport.
With an aim to win in the Asian Games which are postponed to the upcoming year and even the 2024 Paris Olympics, she has already begun her training in Bengaluru.
Reckon what is her daily training routine like?
“In the morning for three hours we have a heavy race walk workout which consists of either climbs, speed workout or endurance walks. In the evening we spend around two hours just focusing on technique.”
“Sometimes we also do the easy stuff like running or swimming in the evening,” she says in all sincerity and casually mentioned that running and swimming are easier than race walking.
Tweet by Soug (@sbg1936)
Silver 🥈it’s !!
Priyanka Goswami wins🥈in girls’s 10000m race stroll bettered her private greatest by whopping greater than 5 minutes !!!
What a race !!!
Many congrats 👏 to u…
So pleased with u 👍 #PriyankaGoswami #Athletics #CommonwealthGames2022 pic.twitter.com/T2TIEiP8hs
— Soug (@sbg1936) August 6, 2022