NEW DELHI: After an impressive outing at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, long-distance runner Parul Chaudhary has now set her sights on winning a gold in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at the Asian Games in Hangzhou next month.
At the Worlds, Parul did exceedingly well to first qual -ify for the steeplechase final and then finished a creditable 11th overall with a timing of 9 minutes 15.51 seconds.
In the process, the western UP girl from Iklauta village near Meerut, qualified for the Paris Olympics in 2024. She also improved on the national record of 9:19.76 held by Maharashtra’s Lalita Babar, who set it at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“The aim is to win the gold at the Asian Games. I have worked hard on my fitness and technique and it’s paying dividends now. My performance at the Worlds has given me confidence that I can clock better timings. I can beat the best in the world if I follow the same training methods. The three-month long training stint at Colorado Springs in the USA earlier this year also helped a lot,” Parul said after her race at the Worlds.
Parul had trained along -side men’s 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable in Colorado Springs and reckoned that the experience of practising with him was of immense help.
“It was great to train alongside someone as focused and disci -plined as Sable. He helped me a lot during my training sessions. I gained from that experience,” she added.
Last month, Parul had won a sensational gold at the Asian Championships in Bangkok in women’s 3000m steeplechase after clocking 9:38.76s.
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