Who is Parul Chaudhary? Know all about the athlete who won the 5000m gold and clinched her 2nd medal at the 2023 Asian Games

Parul Chaudhary won the women's 5000m in a rather dramatic fashion to become just the third Indian track and field athlete to win gold at the 2023 Asian Games.

On Tuesday, October 3, Parul took to the track for the women's 5000m. She started slow and paced her race well before breaking away from everyone and trailing just Ririka Hironaka.

In the final few meters, Parul increased her pace and raced past the Japanese athlete to win the gold medal. This comes a day after she won the silver medal in the 3000m women's steeplechase.

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Who is Parul Chaudhary?

Parul Chaudhary, the daughter of a farmer, hails from Iklauta near Meerut, which is in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. She made her name in the world of long-distance running, with a special focus on the 5000m and the 3000m steeplechase.

The 28-year-old holds the distinction of being the first Indian female to complete the women’s 3000m in under nine minutes.

She has seen remarkable success in 2023. In July, she clinched the gold medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

Later in August, she took part in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where she registered a personal best time of 9:15.31 in the 3000m steeplechase and finished in the 11th position. With it, she secured a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The icing on the cake was that her timing was also a national record.

Incidentally, Parul is only the second Indian female athlete to qualify for the final round of a track event at the World Athletics Championships.

Now, with her two medals at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, she has shown that she is on track to give her best at the Olympics next year.