NEW DELHI: Olympian Ankita Dhyani broke the women's 2000m steeplechase national record while winning gold at the Grand Slam Jerusalem athletics meet in Israel.
The 23-year-old Ankita clocked 6-minute 13.92 seconds to better the previous national mark of 6:14.38, held by Parul Chaudhary.
With the ranking points she earned from the win on Thursday, Ankita boosted her chances of qualifying for 3000m steeplechase for the World Championships in Tokyo next month through world ranking quota.
"Yes, under the rules, the performance of 2000m steeplechase will be counted for world ranking purposes in 3000m steeplechase for the World Championships in Tokyo. It is an existing rule," Indian athletics head coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI.
The Grand Slam Jerusalem is a World Athletics Continental Tour silver level (Category B) event.
Israel's Adva Cohen and Denmark’s Juliane Hvid finished second and third after clocking 6:15.20 and 6:17.80 respectively.
Ankita secured a silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase race at the World University Games last month, where she clocked a personal best time of 9:31.99.
She took part in the women’s 5000m at the 2024 Olympics. She won a 5000m bronze medal at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok.
She also won a gold each in the women's 5000m and 3000m steeplechase events at the Uttarakhand National Games earlier this year.