Utah olympic oval

Khelo India Winter Games: India’s first professional woman speed skater Shruti Kotwal, who will be leading India’s charge in the Asian Winter Games (AWG) in Harbin, China from February 7-14, has her eyes set on qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The AWG will be a big opportunity for Shruti to test herself against the best skaters in the world and qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics. "I’m focusing on the 500m and 1000m events for Olympic qualification. The timing requirements are incredibly challenging — sub-40 seconds for the 500m and under 1:20 for the 1000m. My Indian national record is 41.97 seconds and I need to skate under 40 seconds to qualify,” said Shruti in an interview with SAI Media.

The sports ministry has cleared a squad of 41 athletes for AWG. These include speed skaters and their support staff. For Shruti, this will be her second appearance in the AWG after 2017, when the Asian meet was last held in Japan.