Parul Chaudhary Picture Credit: Twitter
In a significant development, ace India women athlete Parul Chaudhary has shattered the national record in 3000m category. The 27-year-old clocked the distance in 8:57.91 at the Sound Running Sunset tour in Los Angeles. Parul Chaudhary, who was earlier trailing at the fifth place with two laps left, recovered well only to finish third on the podium and eventually, broke the national record.
Notably, Parul Chaudhary broke the 6-year-old national record of Suriya Loganathan by a margin of 7 seconds. Her time was easily the best produced by an Indian woman in overseas conditions, lowering the 9:06.42 clocked by Molly Chacko in the Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994. Loganathan had clocked 9:04.5 way back in April 2016 in New Delhi.
Parul Chaudhary will now compete in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA. She had registered a personal best of 9:38.29 in what is her main event in March earlier this year. Despite her brilliant run, Parul Chaudhary failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000m race.
According to world rankings, the top 42 athletes qualified for the Tokyo Olympics before the 29 June deadline, and Parul Chaudhary was placed at 43rd. At that time she expressed her disappointment as she told IANS, "My world ranking in women’s 5,000m at the end of June was 43rd while 42nd were eligible to compete in the Olympics. The 27-year-old Parul Chaudhary earlier had tested positive for Covid-19 in May, which majorly affected her preparation for the Olympic Games.
That happened while she was attending a national camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centre in Bengaluru. Parul Chaudhary was among several top athletes who tested Covid positive.