Race walkers Jared and Claire Tallent will arrive in Delhi this Saturday aiming to become one of the few married couples to win double gold at a Commonwealth Games.

Jared will be out to improve on the bronze medal — his first major senior medal — that he won in the 20km walk at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games four years ago. He came in behind fellow Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship holders Nathan Deakes and Luke Adams.

Since 2006 Jared has become a feared competitor in international competition. At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games he won silver in the 50km and bronze in the 20km. Last year he had two top-ten finishes at the world championships in Berlin and this year he won bronze in the 50km in the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Claire will be competing in her first Commonwealth Games but has plenty of international experience with solid performances at the Beijing Olympic Games and world championships, and top-ten finishes in this year’s IAAF World Race Walking Challenge.

Jared and Claire are confident about their chances at double gold in Delhi. ’The last four years has been great,’ said Jared. ‘I have really improved since Melbourne, and it’s been fun travelling as a couple. We’ve had some great results internationally.’

‘I had a few problems in Beijing recently but was with the leaders for most of the race, so my fitness is where I want it to be,’ said Claire. ‘I have been working on my technique and I’m confident everything will come together for the Games.’

There will only be six walking medals available at the Delhi Commonwealth Games as the men’s longer walk has been dropped from the program. The chance of Australia repeating their eight medal win also vanished two weeks ago when Jessica Rothwell withdrew with a hamstring injury.

The Commonwealth rankings show Jared as the clear favourite for gold in the men’s 20km with a personal best of 1:19:15, two minutes in front of his nearest competitor, Luke Adams.

Claire is second on this year’s rankings, behind England’s Joanne Jackson, with Australian teammate Cheryl Webb not far away in third. However Claire has shown a rapid improvement over the last four years to become a genuine gold medal chance.