Athletics Championships: Kiran Pahal qualifies for Olympics, Gulveer Singh improves meet record

Panchkula: The Athletics Federation of India has scheduled the 63rd National Inter-state Athletics Championships 2024 just a month before the Olympic Games to help the Indian athletes qualify and the move paid on the opening day itself with Kiran Pahal punching her ticket for Paris in women's 400m.

The Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula erupted in joy as Kiran dipped below the qualifying mark in the semifinal of the event while Gulveer Singh improved the meet record in men's 5000m.

Asian Games medalist Gulveer of Uttar Pradesh clocks 13:34.67 seconds in the men’s 5,000m to improve his meet record of 13:43.23 set last year in Bhubaneswar.

Kiran ran a blistering pace to clock 50.92 seconds to better the Paris Olympic Games qualification time of 50.95 on the opening day of the event.

With Thursday’s performance, Kiran has emerged as the second fastest Indian female 400m runner of all time. Hima Das holds the national record of 50.79 seconds clocked in 2018. Kiran is the first Indian female quarter-miler to have qualified for the Olympic Games after a gap of eight years since Nirmal Sheoran (Haryana) qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Kiran was surprised to have clocked such a time in the semis on Thursday. The final scheduled for Friday will be an exciting event as Kiran plans to race faster than her semifinal time of 50.92 seconds. IANS

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