Sudha’s marathon route to Olympic dream
India’s ace steeplechase runner Sudha Singh is using road races to build endurance as she looks to make up for the disappointment of failing to qualify for the finals at the Rio Olympics.Sudhafinishedsecond in the Delhi half marathoninthe EliteIndiancategory,onSunday. Her personal best of 1 hour, 11 min,30secondswasn’tenoughto upstage eventual winner L Suriya, who clocked 1:10:31.
“Given the fact that I am still logging huge weekly mileage, sometimes over 250km, the performance has been good,” said Sudha, who had been training at altitude, in Dharamsala.
“On the basis of endurance training, I have achieved a good result. It will pay off during the main competition season.”
Thetwomajoreventslinedup in 2018 are the Commonwealth GamesinAprilandAsianGames in August. Beforethat, however, shehastheMumbaimarathonon herroster. Shefeels theMumbai Marathon will help improve her mental strength which makes a difference at big events.
“Missingthefinalofthe3000m steeplechase at the 2016 Rio Gamesstillhauntsme.Iamdeterminedtoshowcasemytalentatat the global level,” shetold Hindustan Times.
Sudha and Lalita Babar were India’s hopes in steeplechase at Rio.However,Sudhatrippedduring the heats, losing rhythm to ultimately miss out on the final. Lalita Babar qualified from the otherheatandfinished10thinthe final,afirstbyanIndianwoman. “I waswell-preparedinRio, butI was unlucky. I want to make amends for that,” she said.
After Rio, she suffered from swine flu and had to be admitted tohospital.Shereturnedandwon goldatFederationCup,Nationals and Asian Championships this year.However,hernamewasn’t sentfortheLondonWorldChampionships as her timing wasn’t deemed good enough. Now though,sheisgraduallyworking towards the 2020 Tokyo Games.
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