On her way to winning the gold medal, the 23-year-old college student clocked 3::00:04, which was 13 minutes faster than the previous national record set in March by Priyanka Goswami in Muscat.
Ramandeep’s record-breaking performance added to her confidence but it fell short of the Eugene World Athletics Championship qualification mark of two hours and 54 minutes.
The 35km was introduced to the national calendar in early 2021. While Ramandeep’s first experience at the 35km distance was at the 2021 Open National Athletics Championships held in September, the competition in Ranchi was her second race over the grueling distance.
The lack of experience over longer races like 35km was one of the reasons Ramandeep claimed to have missed the cut for the World Athletics Championship.
When Ramandeep graduated to senior level in 2019, she mainly focused on the 20km race walk. Her personal best was one hour 39 minutes for the 20km event.
Following lockdown in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the Punjabi University student from Patiala struggled to stay focused.
Last year she was also selected for the national camp in Bengaluru. The national camp has now been shifted to Patiala by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
Ramandeep stepped into the athletics world during her school days way back in 2012. Winning medals in state and national meets in race walking further encouraged her to pursue athletics.
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