Chennai: Long distance runner Ankita Dhyani competed in 3000m steeplechase for the first time only in September last year. But in less than 12 months, the 23-year-old Ankita has quickly climbed the ladder and currently occupies the 38th spot in the ‘Road to Tokyo’ standings for the upcoming World Championships.“I have shown good improvement in steeplechase. I was mentally prepared to take up the discipline and remained focused,” Ankita told TOI from Bengaluru, ahead of her participation at the ongoing Inter-State Athletics meet here.Thirty six athletes will advance to the Worlds and Ankita needs to put up a strong show in the inter-state event to stand a chance of qualifying. It must be noted that there is no clarity on whether points from the recent Israel meet have been added to the ‘Road to Tokyo’ chart.Just a week ago in Israel, the athlete from Uttarakhand broke the 2000m steeplechase national record, which was earlier held by Parul Chaudhary. Ankita also secured a silver medal at the World University Games in Germany. These good performances will serve as a confidence-booster for Ankita in the lead-up to the inter-state meet, where she will compete on Sunday.“I did not think about the record and I just wanted to show my full potential. The competition in Israel was an important one. I feel that there is scope for improvement and my performance will get better. It is difficult to set a good timing at inter-state, but I will try to run as fast as possible and win gold,” Ankita added.Before competing in steeplechase, Ankita was doing well in 5000m and 10000m. Last year, she wanted to give steeplechase a try as she thought that she had good scope in it. Her coach Scott Simmons motivated her to take up steeplechase and things have gone in her favour. “My coach asked me to try steeplechase this year and I was confident. He played a major role in my development, improving my technique. I have been training under him since 2022 in the USA,” Ankita said.Last year, Ankita competed at the Paris Olympics in 5000m. While she could not qualify for the final, she gained valuable experience from the quadrennial extravaganza. “In Paris, I did not get to talk with the foreign athletes, but I was keenly observing what they were doing. Hopefully, I take those learnings and use them in future meets.”
