When race walker Priyanka Goswami missed the 20km Olympic cut by a narrow margin at the nationals last year February, she was left momentarily dejected. The 24-year-old walker knew it was only a matter of time that she booked a spot for the megaevent but little did she know back then that a pandemic would bring all sporting action to a halt for almost a year. Her wait ended on Saturday, at the race walk nationals in Ranchi where she bagged the gold, clocking a national record-shattering time of 1:28:45s and in the process earned a spot for the Tokyo Games slated for July this year. Priyanka erased Bahavna Jat’s 1:29:54 mark set last year at the same event where the 2020 champion missed the Games cut. In the men’s 20km event, seasoned walker Sandeep Kumar also earned an Olympic sport and a national record by clocking 1:20:16s as runner up Rahul Kumar too finished within the Games mark.