Priyanka Goswami on Saturday scripted history as she became the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walk with a silver in 10,000m event at the Commonwealth Games here. Goswami clocked a personal best time of 43:38.83s to finished second behind Jemima Montag (42:34.30) of Australia. Emily Wamusyi Ngii (43:50.86) of Kenya took the bronze.
Goswami led from the start, and continued to lead till the 4000m mark, after which she dropped two places and remained there until the 8000m mark. The 26-year-old then moved into second in the last 2000m, going on to claim the silver medal by a comfortable margin. This was Goswami's personal best time, while gold medallist Montag's time was a Commonwealth games record.
The other Indian in the fray, Bhawna Jat finished eighth and last with a personal best time of 47:14.13. Harminder Singh was the first Indian to have won a medal in race walk -- bronze -- in the 20km event in 2010 CWG in Delhi.
Goswami, who had represented India in the Tokyo Olympics (finishing 17th), has won the Indian Racewalking Championship multiple times, in 2017 and 2021. Speaking to the media, after the event Goswami was pleased with her achievement, saying "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."
"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 sporting, 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."