Amit Khatri Wins Silver in 10k Race Walking at U-20 World Athletics Championships

India's Amit Khatri clocked 42 minutes, 17.94 seconds to win the silver medal in the 10km race walk event at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi on Saturday. This was India’s second medal at this edition of the championships, following the bronze won by the 4x400 mixed relay quartet earlier this week.

Khatri finished behind Kenya’s Heristone Wanyoni, who won gold with a timing of 42:10.84. Khatri led most of the race, but Wanyoni took control in the final two laps to seal gold. Paul McGrath of Spain won the bronze medal with a timing of 42:26.11 minutes. 

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Khatri  had set a new national U-20 record in the distance earlier this year when he won gold at the Federation Cup. He would have sealed gold had he come close to that time. Since the race was held in a higher altitude, Khatri had a bit of trouble in the latter stages. Maybe inexperience was also a factor, since this was the 17-year-old’s first international event.  

“As it's a high altitude so breathing (was a) problem for me. It was my first international competition and (I) won silver for India. I'm happy with silver at least I could fulfil the hopes of India,” Khatri was quoted as saying by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) via a tweet.

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This is the first time that an Indian has won a medal in race walking and is also the first time that the country has won two medals in a single edition of the U-20 worlds. 

Overall, this is the sixth medal won by an Indian at the World Athletics U20 Championships. Previous winners include Seema Antil, Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, Neeraj Chopra and Hima Das.

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