Ram Baboo breaches Paris 2024 Olympics race walk qualifying standard at Dudinska athletics meet
Baboo clocked a personal best of 1:20:00 at Dudinska 50 and became the seventh Indian to meet the Olympic qualifying mark in the men’s 20km race walk.
India’s Ram Baboo won the bronze medal in the men’s 20km race walk event at the Dudinska 50 2024 athletics competition in Dudince, Slovakia on Saturday and in the process, breached the qualifying standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 24-year-old Baboo clocked one hour and 20 minutes (1:20:00) to meet the Paris Olympics qualifying standard for the event, set at 1:20:10.
Peru’s Cesar Augusto Rodriguez clinched the gold medal with a time of 1:19:41 while Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado clocked 1:19:44 to secure the silver.
Baboo even set a new personal best record at Dudinska 50. His previous personal best in the 20km race walk category - 1:21:04 - was set at the 2024 South Asian and Indian Race Walking Championships in Chandigarh in January this year.
An Asian Games bronze medallist, Ram Baboo is the seventh Indian race walker to breach the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifying standard. Akshdeep Singh, Vikas Singh, Paramjeet Bisht, Suraj Panwar, Servin Sebastian and Arshpreet Singh achieved the feat earlier.
Each national federation, however, can only send a maximum of three athletes for the men’s 20km race walk event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Achieving the entry standard is just one part of the Olympic qualification process. National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have the final say as to who will be selected for the NOC team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The final selection will be done in June, according to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
Interestingly, Akshdeep, Arshpreet, Vikas, Paramjeet and Servin, along with Eknath Turambekar, were also initially in the entry list for the at Dudinska 50 but none of them started the race.
Baboo also holds the national record in men’s 35km race walk with a time of 2:29:56, which he had set at Dudinska 50 last year.