Ram breaches Paris Olympics Qualification mark following bronze medal triumph

DUDINCE [Slovakia]: Indian racewalker Ram Baboo breached the qualifying standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics after he clinched the bronze medal in the men's 20km race walk event at the Dudinska 50 2024 athletics competition in Dudince, Slovakia on Saturday. The Asian Games medallist clocked one hour and 20 minutes (1:20:00) and met the Paris Olympics qualifying standard for the event, which is set at 1:20:10.

Peru's Cesar Augusto Rodriguez secured the gold medal by clocking 1:19:41s while Ecuador's Brian Daniel Pintado settled for a silver medal with a timing of 1:19:44s.

The 24-year-old set a new personal best record at the event. His previous personal best in the 20km race walk category was 1:21:04s. Earlier in January, he set the mark during the 2024 South Asian and Indian Race Walking Championships in Chandigarh.

Following his triumph, Baboo became the seventh Indian race walker to breach the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifying standard. Before him, Akshdeep Singh, Vikas Singh, Paramjeet Bisht, Suraj Panwar, Servin Sebastian and Arshpreet Singh have breached the qualifying mark.

However, each national federation can only send a maximum of three athletes for the men's 20km race walk event in the upcoming Summer Games. At Dudinska 50 last year, Baboo set the national record in men's 35km race walk with a time of 2:29:56s.