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Indian quarter-miler Kiran Pahal finished sixth in heat 1 of the women’s 400m repechage round at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Tuesday, August 6. Pahal clocked a timing of 52.59s and failed to make it to the semi-finals of the women’s 400m. With this, Pahal’s campaign came to an end as only the winner advances to the semifinals. Earlier, Pahal finished seventh in women’s 400m Heat 5, and failed to take a direct entry into the semis.
In the heat 5, Pahal clocked 52.51 seconds and finished seventh out of eight runners and overall 40th. Notably, the top three runners in each heat event advance to the semifinal, while other contenders advance to the repechage round for an another chance to qualify. Pahal, a 24-year-old athlete from Haryana, secured her Paris quota in the women’s 400m during the Inter-State Athletics last month.
During the tournament, Pahal scripted history by finishing the 400m race in only 50.92 seconds, and recording her personal best. It is to be noted that the Paris 2024 qualification standard is set at 50.95 seconds. With that, Kiran emerged as the second-fastest Indian woman in the 400m event, behind Hima Das, who created the national record in 50.79 seconds at the Asian Games in 2018, Jakarta.
The Haryana-native is the first Indian female quarter-miler to have qualified for the Olympics after a gap of eight years since Nirmal Sheoran (Haryana) qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
