Men’s 21km will be main attraction during Indian Open Race Walk Competition

Chandigarh: Competitors at the 13th edition of the Indian Open Race Walk Competition in Chandigarh will race over two newly-introduced events — the 21km (half marathon walk) and 42km (full marathon walk) in senior men and women — for the first time this season. The two-day domestic race walk competition will be conducted on Saturday and Sunday at the picturesque Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh.

“The World Athletics—global governing body in track and field—had introduced half-marathon walk and full marathon walk events last year,” chief national athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair said. “It is for the first time that Indian athletes will compete in the newly introduced events,” he said. Till the 2025 season, the standard distance in senior men and women was 20km and 35km in all competitions sanctioned by World Athletics.

The main attraction during the two-day extravaganza will be the men’s half-marathon walk (21km). Four Paris Olympians —Akshdeep Singh, Paramjeet Singh Bisht, Suraj Panwar, and Vikash Singh — will be seen in action on Sunday.

All four will be battling with Servin Sebastain, who had dominated the 2025 season and represented India at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in Japan. Servin is all set to compete in the 21km event. “Preparation has been on track. I’m healthy and expect good performance on Sunday,” Servin said. IANS

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