Aanchal Thakur becomes first Indian to win two international skiing medals with bronze at Montenegro
Aanchal Thakur, looking to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, is also the first Indian to win an international skiing medal. She won bronze in Turkey in 2018.
Indian skier Aanchal Thakur won the bronze medal in the giant slalom category at a Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) meet held at Kolasin, Montenegro, on Thursday.
The alpine skiing competition was held under the banner of the Jamaican national championships.
Aanchal Thakur’s bronze was India’s second-ever international skiing medal. The first, incidentally, was also a bronze won by Aanchal Thakur at the 2018 Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup held in Turkey.
The 25-year-old Indian skier clocked 56.38 seconds and 57.92 seconds in her first and second runs, respectively, at Montenegro to finish third with a total time of 1:54.30 seconds.
Croatia’s Dora Ljutic (1:50.61) won the gold medal while Cyprus skier Georgia Epiphaniou (1:52.71) clinched silver.
Mohammad Arif Khan, currently the only Indian to have won a quota spot for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, was also competing at the event and finished 21st overall in the men’s section with a time of 1:51.23 seconds.
The medal will be a big confidence booster for Aanchal Thakur who is gunning to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. The Manali skier only recently came back to competing on the international circuit after her 2018 bronze medal in Turkey.
Aanchal Thakur, a former Youth Olympian, didn’t compete in 2019 and missed the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
Recently Aanchal and her brother Himanshu, a Winter Olympian from Sochi 2018, moved to Austria for training with the aim to qualify for Beijing 2022. She has been competing in various events to maximise her chances of making the cut.