News15 Aug 2008


Men's 20Km Race Walk FINAL

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Valeriy Borchin celebrates his 20km walk victory (© Getty Images)

old Valeriy Borchin braved the excruciating heat and humidity to secure the 20km Race Walking Olympic gold medal in 1:19:14 leaving behind the cream of the field. The Russian made only two moves to the front, the first 1 hour and 1 minute into the race and the second, which would eventually prove decisive, nine minutes later.

Borchin who had always remained in the leading pack albeit a discreet follower finished with 14 seconds to spare over the 1996 Olympic champion and three-time World champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador.

Australia’s Jared Tallent won the race for bronze in 1:19:42 ahead of fast finishing Hao Wang of China who clocked a personal best 1:19.47, a fantastic way to celebrate his 19th birthday.

Defending Olympic champion Ivano Brugnetti who had dictated most of the pace until kilometre 16 was fifth in a season’s best 1:19.51. IAAF World Race Walking challenge champion Luke Adams (AUS) was next across the line six seconds adrift with World Race Walking Cup winner Francisco Javier Fernandez (ESP) a somewhat disappointing seventh in 1:20:32 after he had paired with Brugnetti to ensure the pace would be fast.

After the opening three laps inside the magnificent Olympic stadium, Perez, Fernandez and Brugnetti led the way to the 2-km loop course located in the Olympic Green just outside the Bird’s nest and embarked a compact group on the first of nine laps. As commonly known, the organisers laid down a 4mm thick matt after walkers complained the concrete was too hard at the Beijing Good Luck test event back in May.

After a brief appearance of Kazakh’s Rustam Kuvatov in the lead between the second and the fourth kilometre which no-one considered serious enough to follow, it was an Italo-Spanish duo in the lead with Brugnetti and Fernandez taking turns ahead of Perez and World Cup bronze medallist Eder Sanchez of Mexico.

Reaching check point at kilometre 8 in 32:38, the European pair was leading a group of 24 walkers which also included Ireland’s Rob Hefferman and Colombia’s Luis Fernando Lopez as prominent figures.  

Brugnetti did not relinquish the lead even if at times it looked like he was asking Fernandez to take over while back in the pack Japan’s Takayuki Taniii was the first to be disqualified.

Sanchez received his first yellow card 43 minutes into the race which forced him to reduce his tempo. After 46 minutes Brugnetti kept working hard taking in his wake Fernandez, famously coached by 2000 Olympic champion Robert Korzeniowski, Lopez, Hefferman and 19-year-old Chu Yafei of China.

The leading group was now down to 20 but stretched back over a good 10 metres. Former World and European champion Ilya Markov was the first potential medallist to drop back the Russian appearing to struggle with the demanding weather conditions.

As athletes completed another lap, the leading pack was down to 14 and then down to 9 as Brugnetti led through the 14th kilometre in 50.28. It was time for things to be shaken and the one to make the first aggressive move was 34-year-old Perez, a living legend in race walking with 3 World Cup titles also included in his resume.

The Ecuadorian upped the tempo 58 minutes into the race in an attempt to improve on his fourth place finishes at the last two Olympic Games. He stretched the pack to a one line with Lopez, Brugnetti and Fernandez the closest. At that point, Borchin was safely positioned in sixth.

But the real show had yet to begin and once again it was Perez who launched the attack. Exactly one hour into the race, he blasted to the front breaking away from the rest of the field. Tallent was the only one capable of following but it took the Australian Commonwealth bronze medallist 10 seconds to rejoin. Brugnetti was a further five metres down with Borchin the only other walker to close the gap. Borchin regrouped with Perez and Tallent when the clock showed 1:01.35 as Brugnetti remained a couple of metres adrift.

Not only did Borchin catch up with the leading pair, he went straight past them causing furore behind him. He went through 16km in 1:04:05 with Perez trailing on his heels and Tallent further back. The medals seemed to be set as Brugnetti lost further ground. The trio of Fernandez, Lopez and Wang was 10 metres behind the Italian defending champion and looked as though hopes for a medal were lost for them.

Perez managed to hold on to Borchin’s devastating tempo for another lap but the Russian’s longer strides soon made the difference and he gradually built an advance which would prove impossible to make up.

It didn’t matter so much that he was shown a yellow card with just over ten minutes to go, Borchin was in a class of his own heading into the final two kilometres. He entered the Olympic stadium safely in the lead and strolled through the finish line barely celebrating his country’s first Olympic gold medal since the event was introduced back in 1956.

It was Borchin’s first major senior international gold medal after he claimed silver at the European Championships in 2006, two months after returning from a one-year ban for a doping offence.

Perez was also safely in second finishing  26 seconds ahead of bronze medallist Tallent who was pressed by the fast finishing Wang who entered the stadium just metres behind him. Wang received an ovation by the nearly full-house crowd for what was China’s best ever showing at the event.

Wang had overtaken Brugnetti over the last stages of the race, the Italian being charged with two yellow cards and not wanting to repeat his unfortunate disqualification from last year’s World Championships in Osaka.


World record holder Sergey Morozov was not confirmed by the Russian team leader and therefore did not feature in the event’s official start lists.

Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF

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