Race Walker Suraj Panwar Gears Up For Debut Within Debut At Olympics

Plucked out of his comfort zone and training without a partner for a mixed event in what is to be his debut Olympics, race walker Suraj Panwar is gearing up for quite a roller-coaster ride in Paris this month. But he is quite used to upheaval. He was born into it. The 23-year-old was an infant when his forest guard father Udai Singh Panwar was killed in the line of duty while trying to prevent illegal logging of trees. He was raised single-handedly by his mother Poonam, who worked at the forest department's nursery in a village near Dehradun and supported his sporting ambitions.

"I have never competed in marathon race walk mixed relay in my career, this is going to be my first time. So, I don't even have a target timing in my mind. But, it's a matter of representing my country and I will give my 100 per cent," Panwar told PTI in an interview.

The event was first introduced in a major championship at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Turkiye in April. It will make its Olympics debut in Paris.

Panwar, who is a 20km race walker, will pair with Priyanka Goswami in the new event which will cover the marathon distance of 42.195km. The first 12.195km will be covered by the male race walker before his female team-mate takes over for the next 10km.

After that, the male race walker will cover another 10km before his female counterpart takes over for the final 10km up to the finish line. The combined time of the two athletes will be taken into consideration to decide the result.

"I will cover a little over 20km (22.195km in total in two legs) but the difference (from 20km race) is that I will do it with a break in between after completing 12.195km," he explained.

"At that time, Priyanka will be running