On Friday, the lowest-ranked player, Gurjeet Singh wasn’t able to complete the 50km race walk competition in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after passing the 35km mark, because of cramps and the climatic conditions. He was ranked as the 51st player and he sat down at that mark, he had 2 hrs 55 minutes and 19 seconds but he dropped out.
Firstly, he slowed down and then stopped, sitting down on the sidelines, seeing that, the medical team reached him but there was nothing serious. The best he has done till now is 3:59:42 where he won gold in February in the National Open Race Walk Championships.
Also read: Punjab Makes India Proud At Olympics 2020 With Most Players; Know Who They Are
The cramps and heat was the possible reason why the athlete sat down at the 35km mark. At the beginning of the match, at 5.30 AM at the Sapporo Odori Park, the temperature was 25 degrees which increased to 31 degree Celsius at the end of the match i.e. 9 AM according to the local time. The humidity was quite high at 80 per cent.
Out of 59 athletes,
12 athletes were not able to finish the race and were disqualified. The winner
of the race was Poland’s Dawid Tomala and his time was 3.50.08, silver went to
Germany’s Jonathan Hilbert and the bronze were achieved by Canada’s Evan Dunfee.