Irfan KOLOTHUM THODI

KT Irfan is a race walker from India who holds the national record in the 20km racewalk.

Born on February 8, 1990, in the Malappuram city in Kerala, Kolothum Thodi Irfan was introduced to race walking by a friend in his village who had competed at the national level.

KT Irfan was not quite bitten by the bug to take it up full-time but the sport helped him get into a college and also granted him a place to stay at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel. That was the motivation he needed to continue race walking.

When he was 20, KT Irfan joined the Indian Army and they encouraged him to pursue the sport professionally. Coach Gurudev Singh spotted KT Irfan’s talent at the 2011 National Games and invited him to join the national camp.

Within days of joining the camp, KT Irfan won silver at the senior national athletic championships and soon clinched gold at the Open Nationals.

KT Irfan’s breakthrough moment came at the 2012 Federation Cup, where he set a new 20km meet record of 1:22.14 to win gold. A few months later, he improved that time by five seconds at the 2012 Racewalking World Cup, which helped him qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.