A bag was all Priyanka Goswami wanted when she entered her first race walking competition. She ended up finding the sport that would take her to the Olympic Games.
Years later, the Indian race walker, who has extensively trained at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru, is preparing to cover considerably more ground.
Priyanka’s preparation has also been supported by the government’s Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) and the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), which have backed her training and competition needs.
As a TOPS athlete, she has access to support covering areas such as coaching, international exposure and diet, helping her prepare for the demands of competing at the highest level.
Having competed in the 20km race walk at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, Priyanka will take on the 42km marathon race walk at Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya.
The change in distance has required a different approach to training, including preparing for the weather conditions she could encounter in Japan. The challenge will also come from a formidable field featuring some of the world’s leading race walkers.
“Our Asian Games are almost equivalent to the Olympics,” Priyanka told Olympics.com. “China and Japan have world record holders here. So my first target will be to compete among them and win a medal for my country.”
Success in Japan would also fill an important space in Priyanka’s collection. Having already won a Commonwealth Games medal, the two-time Olympian wants an Asian Games podium before turning her attention towards LA 2028.
“If I am winning a medal competing against Chinese and Japanese athletes, I can do even better at the world level,” she said.
It is a considerably bigger ambition than the one that first brought Priyanka to race walking.
Growing up in Meerut, Priyanka initially pursued gymnastics before trying athletics. At a district meet, bags were being offered as prizes and she entered running events hoping to win one.
Against more experienced runners, however, she found herself finishing fourth or fifth. Then came the final event of the meet: race walking.
There were only three other girls to contend with.
“I thought I could probably beat at least one of them,” Priyanka recalled.
She did exactly that, finishing third and getting the bag she wanted. More importantly, her gymnastics background had given her the flexibility to naturally adopt a good race walking technique.
Her coach noticed.
“My first coach who was there told me, ‘From today on, you will only do race walking.’”
What began over 3km gradually turned into something Priyanka could scarcely have imagined at the time.
“I didn’t even know that 20km or 42km events existed, or that I would ever do them,” she said. “At that time, 3km felt like, ‘Okay, it’s just a short distance, I’ll manage.’
“But as I progressed step by step, my sports career dreams as an athlete kept coming true.”
One of those dreams was realised when Priyanka competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She returned to the Olympic stage at Paris 2024, adding another chapter to a career that had started almost accidentally.
Now, the move to 42km presents a very different test.
Beyond the physical demands of the marathon race walk, Priyanka estimates she will need to maintain concentration for around three-and-a-half hours. Meditation has consequently become an important part of her preparation.
“I meditate a lot to stay calm,” she explained. “Since my event is 42km, I have to stay focused because we have to walk continuously for three hours and 30 minutes.”
There are lessons from her previous Asian Games appearance, too. Priyanka believes the experience has left her better equipped to avoid mistakes she made last time, while her preparations have been tailored towards both the new distance and conditions expected in Japan.
The immediate reward she is chasing is an Asian Games medal. But with LA 2028 two years away, Priyanka also sees Aichi-Nagoya as an important measure of how far she can go on the global stage.
It is a journey that began with the rather more modest pursuit of a bag.
This time, the prize she wants is a medal.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/priyanka-goswami-marathon-race-walk-asian-games-2026
