Aarti ended India's drought at the ongoing World U20 Athletics Championships on Friday as she claimed a bronze medal in the 10000m race walk event.
Aarti produced her career-best effort to win the bronze medal. She broke her own national record and clocked 44 minutes 39.39 seconds to script history in the energy-sapping event.
Notably, the 17-year-old shattered her own national record of 47:21.04 which she had created in March while claiming a gold medal in the National Federation Cup U20 Championships in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
While Aarti produced a commendable performance in the 10000m race walk event to bring laurels to the country, her best still couldn't help her go past the two Chinese athletes who clinched silver and gold respectively.
Zhuoma Baima clocked 43:26.60 to run away with the gold medal whereas her compatriot Meiling Chen recorded the timing of 44:30.67 to finish second-best in the gruelling event and secure silver.
It turned out to be a day that witnessed the growing prowess of the Indian athletes as they broke multiple national records and rewrote history books by delivering impressive performances.
The four-member team comprising Ankul, Abiram Pramo, Rihan Chaudhary and Jay Kumar reduced the national U20 record to dust in the men's 4x400 relay heats with a record timing of 3 minutes 08.10 seconds. The Indian quartet finished second in heat 3 and qualified for the final round.
The team of Rujula Amol Bhonsle, Neole Anna Cornelio, Abinaya Rajarajan and Sudheeksha Vadluri also created a new national U20 record when they recorded 45.31 seconds on the clock in the women's 4x400m relay heats. However, their best was not good enough as they missed out on a spot in the final round.
Earlier in the competition, Pooja Singh created a new national U20 women's national record in high jump. She cleared the height of 1.83m to advance to the final round. Her event will unfold on Saturday.
