Vishwaraj Jadeja, India's fastest long-distance ice-skater, has qualified for the International Skating Union (ISU). World Cup 2021 for long track speed skating.
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Jadeja recently qualified for the big event. That will be held in Salt Lake, Utah from December 3 to 5, 2021. Jadeja worked his way to the World Cup having participated in 12 pre-qualification events since August 2021. And good performance in Salt Lake will put him in a good situation to get a shot at the qualification to Beijing Olympics 2022.
Jadeja will compete in the Mass Start event, which is a shorter version of the Marathon. A Mass Start involves 16 laps of a 400-metre long track.
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"The year 2021 saw the Indian athletes put in a great performance at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. I am inspired by those performances and am trying to make a march towards the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Not many Indians have participated in the winter events. And I feel we are at a juncture where we can push towards it," Jadeja said.
Since India does not have many facilities for winter sports.Jadeja moved to the Netherlands a decade ago in his quest to find glory in ice speed skating. He has been training under the guidance of Wim Nieuwenhuizen, one of the world`s leading ice skating coaches.
Jadeja's achievement
Since then Jadeja has represented India in over 200 races internationally and has been a regular feature on the European ice skating circuit.
One of his most significant achievements came during the Winter World Games Masters 2020, where he won four medals - three silvers and one bronze. Last year, his timing in the 1500 metre event was 2.01.00 - which he has bettered to 1.57.90.
"While I have competed for years and have won medals, it is my dream to make it to the Olympics. The qualification to the World Cup is a major step in that direction. Last year, life came to a standstill due to the pandemic but I continued to stay in the Netherlands and train. This is a reward for my hard work and patience but a bigger one would be qualifying for Beijing," he pointed.