Gulmarg (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], February 24 : The finish line arrived quietly, almost reverently, as if the snow itself understood what it meant. Kajal Kumari Rai did not raise her arms immediately. She slowed, her skis whispering over Gulmarg's powder, her breath visible in the mountain air. For a moment, she simply stood there, eyes searching somewhere far beyond the white expanse, somewhere beyond the cheering officials, beyond the medals, beyond the moment. Somewhere, perhaps, where her father still lives.
Then the realisation settled in. Another gold medal. Her second in as many days. And suddenly, the grief, the promise, the year-long burden Kajal had carried alone, all found its answer in gold.
Just five days before the Khelo India Winter Games in 2025, Kajal's world had collapsed. Her father died unexpectedly, forcing her to abandon training and return home to Shillong for his last rites. The rituals ended, but the grief did not. Still, Kajal returned to Gulmarg to compete, carrying shock and sorrow heavier than any snowfall.
Nordic skier Kajal raced last year, but her body moved without her spirit. The mountains felt colder then. The snow, indifferent. But somewhere in that silence, the CRPF cross-country athlete made herself a promise. She would come back. And she would win, not for herself, but for her father. This February, on the Golf Course at Gulmarg, she kept that promise.
On Monday, the 25-year-old from Meghalaya won gold in the Nordic Women's 15 km sprint. On Tuesday, she returned and did it again, claiming gold in the 10 km sprint, completing a sweep that transformed grief into glory. Two races. Two gold medals. One daughter fulfilling a promise.
Kajal's journey to this moment makes the achievement even more improbable. Kajal comes from a land of rain and green hills, not snow and ice. Nordic skiing is not just uncommon there, it is almost unimaginable.
"We don't have this kind of weather," she said, according to a press release by SAI Media. "Even surviving in snow is a big deal for us. Forget competing in a sport that tests your endurance like this."
She had only started skiing in 2024. No family history. No childhood winters on skis. No legacy to inherit. Just belief.
For the past three weeks, Kajal trained relentlessly at the Indian Army's High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) in Gulmarg. There, she learned not just technique, but survival, how to move with the snow, how to endure it, and how to belong in it. "They trained us well," she said. "They improved our technique and gave us confidence."
The mountains, once foreign, became familiar. She found herself mesmerised by Kashmir, its vast silence, its powdery snow, its beauty.
"The natural views are amazing," Kajal said. "The snow here is perfect for Nordic skiing."
But Kajal's strength was forged long before Gulmarg. She serves in the CRPF, where endurance is not optional but an identity. It was there she discovered endurance sports. It was there she watched Army athletes compete at the Olympics and World Championships. It was there she allowed herself to dream.
Her team manager, Magesh K, saw that transformation first-hand.
"She has always worked extremely hard," he said. "But more than that, she has the spirit of an athlete. That spirit is rare."
Mangesh saw it again at the finish line today. Another CRPF skier, Hiral from Gujarat, had just won bronze. Kajal, fresh off her own victory, walked to her and embraced her. They celebrated together, not as rivals, but as soldiers, as sisters. Victory had not hardened her. It had humanized her.
Back home in Shillong, her mother, sister, brother, and sister-in-law were eagerly waiting for the results from afar and soon after the win she called them over video and broke the good news to them.
No one in Kajal's family had ever pursued sports professionally. No one had walked this path before her. She carved it herself.
Kajal credited her friend and fellow CRPF soldier Lokesh Kumar for helping her believe she could. But belief alone was never enough. Consistency was.
"I saw athletes from states without infrastructure succeed," Kajal said. "I promised myself I would not complain. I would focus on my goal."
She did. And now, standing in Gulmarg with two gold medals, Kajal Kumari Rai is no longer just a participant. She is no longer just a skier from a state without snow. She is a champion. And somewhere, perhaps beyond the mountains, beyond the sky, beyond the finish line, a father's promise has been kept.
Her journey, Kajal said, is only beginning. She now dreams of the Olympics. Of World Championships. Of carrying her story, her father's story, onto the world stage. Because some victories are measured not in seconds, but in courage. And some gold medals weigh more than others.