PARUL CHAUDHARY, 28 3000M STEEPLECHASE, 5000M

PParul Chaudhary had little idea she could run, but in her very first 800-metre race in her school in Iklauta village in Meerut, the 16-year-old returned triumphant. The result and the physical training teacher’s belief in Parul’s sporting talent were enough for her father, Kirshan Pal Singh, a farmer, to send her to train in Meerut. To ensure she wasn’t alone during the 20-km-long daily commute, he sent his elder daughter, Preeti, along. “All he wanted was that his girls stand on their feet and get a job,” says Parul. While Preeti now has a job in the CISF, Parul has been making waves in steeplechase this year after winning gold at the Asian Athletics Championships and, more recently, reaching the finals of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. In the latter, Parul was one of India’s breakout athletes. She didn’t just run a personal best in the heats but also qualified for the finals where she broke the national record by over four seconds and, in the process, qualified for the 2024 Olympics.

Speaking from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility in Bengaluru, Parul says she was surprised by her performance in Budapest. “I ran fast for 2 km as I was excited to be in the finals, I was confident that I’d hit the Olympics qualifying mark (9:27), but I never thought I’d run 9:15!” she says. “Jab din aata hai toh aise hi ho jaata hai (When it’s your day, it just happens).” Before Budapest, her personal best was 9:29.51, a time recorded in an event in the US in May. A 14-second improvement in a top event is a noteworthy feat, albeit one the athletics coach Jaiveer Singh had foreseen in a message a day before the race. Parul credited SAI and Athletics Federation of India-funded high-altitude training camps with US coach Scott Simmons in Colorado Springs for the results.

Athletes like Parul and Avinash Sable highlight that India, too, can field competitive runners in middle distance, a discipline largely dominated by Ethiopia, Kenya and Morocco. At the Asian Games, Parul has her work cut out as she will be competing in both the 3,000-metre steeplechase and 5,000-metre races. Her main focus,

There’s a full chance of a medal in steeplechase and I will give it my best

though, will be on the former, a gruelling event where she most enjoys the water jump. “There’s a full chance of a medal [in it] and I will give it my best,” says Parul, who has the second fastest time by an Asian athlete this year. The fastest belongs to the world champion, Bahrain’s Kenya-born Winfred Mutile.

That won’t deter Parul. She takes inspiration from Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra, who has proven India can take on the elite and even beat them. “Neeraj’s Olympic medal has gone a long way to boost the profile of athletics in India,” she says. “If we continue on this track, we will get better.”