Priyanka targets Australia step up for Paris

Returning medal-less amid the euphoria surrounding India's 100-plus haul at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Priyanka Goswami was distraught.

- Rutvick Mehta

Only India's second race walking medallist at the Commonwealth Games she won 10,000m silver at 2022 Birmingham - Goswami finished fifth in the 20km event a year on in Hangzhou clocking 1:43:07, her slowest of the season. Back home, the 27-year-old would wake up with the chills.

"I didn't feel like waking up at all. I wished ki din na ho, bas raat hi chalti rahe (I didn't want the night to end)," Goswami said.

In all that gloom, a spark of realisation struck the Tokyo Olympian who has secured her 2024 Paris Games ticket. Goswami, who won silver at the Asian Championships in July, felt she was undone by a lack of planning in terms of when to peak more than anything else. A step up in training, coaching and planning was the need of the hour.

"I thought, 'yaar Priyanka, you've worked so hard, yet you're returning empty-handed'. That's when I felt I needed a good coach who would help me plan such things for the level I'm competing in and want to be," said the national record holder in the 10km, 20km and 35km walk events.