Khushbir finishes 42nd in women's 20km race walk event

National record holder Khushbir Kaur finished at 42nd spot with a below-par performance in women's 20km race walk event on the final day of World Championships here today.

The 24-year-old Punjab athlete clocked 1 hour 36 minute and 41 seconds, more than two minutes outside her season best of 1 hour 34 minute and one second, to finish 42nd out of 52 competitors who finished the race.

Khushbir, who has a personal best of 1:31:40, had done her season's best at the IAAF Race Walk Challenge at Taicang in China in April.

The Indian began with a fast pace but slowed down gradually later on. She was at 15th spot at the 5km mark with a time of 22 minute 25 seconds but by the halfway mark, she had fallen behind to 41st place with a split time of 46 minute 19 seconds. At the 15km mark, she was at 39th with a time of 1 hour 10 minute and 55 seconds.
 

Jiayu Wang of China won the race in 1 hour 26 minute and 18 seconds. Maria Gonzalez of Mexico and Antonella Palmisano of Italy took the silver and bronze with efforts of 1:26:19 and 1:26:36 respectively.

This was Khushbir's third World Championships participation. In the earlier edition in 2015 in Beijing, she had finished 37th with a timing of 1:38:53 while she occupied 38th in 2013 in Moscow with a time of 1:34:28.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Khushbir had finished 54th with a timing of 1:40:33.