We had repeatedly said that the center of gravity of the world race walk had moved to Asia, but, to be honest, we meant China and Japan.
We knew that India presented numbers at the start, that for us in Europe are now a distant memory.
But many times we smiled when some joker published on the Social Network video clips of some races in India, which had very little to do with race walk, at least the one we are used to seeing for years.
Even more we thought that in India perhaps they needed what in Europe is called the "guru": the coach who lays the foundation for a future development that then continues for years.
Maybe this is still true, but this hypothetical guru will certainly find fertile ground.
The new name, the one you never would have expected to see in such a great form in Buenos Aires, is that of Suraj Panwar (IND).
Born on April 2, 2001, this young boy is now 17 years and 6 months old and has already gained, in addition to yesterday's silver, a crescendo of results of no small importance.
Here are his progressions in the recent years of his young career.
5.000m track walk
| YEAR | PERFORMANCE | PLACE | DATE |
| | | | |
| 2018 | 20:23.30 (personal best) | Buenos Aires (ARG) | 11 OCT 2018 |
| 2016 | 22:37.37 | Coimbatore (IND) | 12 NOV 2016 |
10.000m track walk
| YEAR | PERFORMANCE | PLACE | DATE |
| | | | |
| 2018 | 42:37.84 (personal best) | Coimbatore (IND) | 21 APR 2018 |
| 2017 | 43:51.45 | Vijayawada (IND) | 17 NOV 2017 |
20km road walk
| YEAR | PERFORMANCE | PLACE | DATE |
| | | | |
| 2018 | 1:29:59 (personal best) | New Delhi (IND) | 18 FEB 2018 |
| 2017 | 1:36:52 | Chennai (IND) | 27 SEP 2017 |
We do not remember seeing seventeen-year-olds obtaining in the 20km a time less than 1:30:00 (which means 4:30/km), but above all we were amazed by the authority and the concentration with which he moved in the two stages of Buenos Aires, in which he also highlighted a good technical approach.
The second race in Buenos Aires was however his masterpiece. He let go off Wang Xin (CHN) without losing too much contact and looking for the correctness of the technical pace that we saw then was the rewarding element of the Games.
Congratulations!