Amit Khatri braved breathing difficulties to win a Silver in the men’s 10,000m race walk event, clinching India’s second medal at the World U-20 Athletics Championship here on Saturday.
The 17-year-old Khatri, the national record holder and world U-20 season leader, clocked 42 minute 17.94 seconds to finish second behind Kenya’s Heristone Wanyoni (42:10.84) on the fourth and penultimate day of the championships.
The mixed 4x400m relay team had won a Bronze on the first day of competitions on Wednesday.
Another medal contender, Priya Mohan came up with a personal best time of 52.77 seconds in the women’s 400m final but was beaten to the podium by Kenya’s Sylvia Chelangat by 0.54 seconds.
Priya improved upon her previous best of 53.29 she had clocked while winning the National Inter-State Athletics Championships on June 28.
Son of a havildar-ranked Indian defence force personnel from Ismaila village in Haryana’s Rohtak district, Khatri was leading after the 9000m mark but the local athlete Wanyoni pulled ahead with less than two laps left in the race to win Gold with a personal best time.
His frequent visits to the refreshment table to get water — especially the last one with just a lap and a half to go for the finish — could have cost him the Gold.
Paul McGrath of Spain won the Bronze with a timing of 42:26.11 minutes.
Khatri’s Silver was the first medal in race walk by an Indian in the U20 world championships and sixth overall in the junior flagship event.
Khatri rued that he could not produce his personal best of 40:40.97 which he had recorded while winning Gold during the Federation Cup Junior National Championships in January.
The high altitude conditions in the Kenyan capital had affected Khatri’s performance as he struggled for breath during the race. Nairobi is at an altitude of around 1800m from sea level.
In other events, Baljeet Kaur clocked a personal best in the women’s 10,000m race walk with a time of 48:58.15 that saw her finish seventh. She did well over the first 3000m of the race, covering that distance in 14:06.90, the fastest credited to any competitor at that mark.
Yet, when Mexico’s Sofia Ramos Rodrigues stepped up the pace, some others also slipped past the Indian.