Robert Korzeniowski of Poland wins the 50km walk (© Getty Images)
The three Race Walks which took place at the 9th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Paris 2003 Saint-Denis (23-31 August 2003) brought to a close the inaugural IAAF World Race Walking Challenge with overall victories for Robert Korzeniowski of Poland and Ireland’s Gillian O’Sullivan.
MEN
1. Robert Korzeniowski (POL)
33 points
2. Francisco Javier Fernández (ESP)
28 points
3. Aigars Fadejevs (LAT)
23 points
WOMEN
1. Gillian O’Sullivan (IRL)
29 points
2. Kjersti Plätzer (NOR)
24 points
3. Elisabetta Perrone (ITA)
22 points
Full standing are listed on the results page – click here
Here again are the event reports from Paris 2003 Saint-Denis:
Men 20km Walk Final
Saturday 23 August 2003
Jefferson Perez (ECU) recorded not only the first victory of the Championships but also a World Best Performance.
His time of 1:17:21 sliced one second off Francisco Javier Fernandez's (ESP) previous mark. Road performances will be given World Record status as of the 1 January 2004.
Fernandez dominated the proceedings early. Establishing a 16 second lead over Perez at 15 km, his split of 58:03 was in touch with World Best pace.
Just before 17km, Perez, the 1996 Olympic champion made the decisive move, surging to the front. He quickly established a break and pulled away to win.
Fernandez briefly dropped b ack to third, but recovered and crossed the line second. He finished 39 seconds adrift of Perez.
Taking third place was defending champion Roman Rasskazov (RUS).
Paris infoteam for IAAF
Women 20km Walk Final
Sunday 24 August 2003
World number one Yelena Nikolayeva (RUS) finally added a World Championship gold medal to her long list of accolades, after leading almost the entire race to win in a Championship Record time of 1:26:52.
A former Olympic champion in the 10km walk, Nikolayeva joined the leading pack at the six minute mark after the defending champion Olimpiada Ivanova, also of Russia, left the course clutching her right hamstring. At the half way mark, a twenty second lead was etablished by Nikolayeva, who's pace was too much for Elisabetta Perrone (ITA), who failed to finish, and Ireland's Gillian O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan, the fourth fastest walker this year was always competitive, taking the silver medal in a time of 1:27:34.
The bronze medal was won by Belarussian Valentina Tsybulskaya in a National Record time of 1:28:10, making her a medallist at the past three World Championships.
It was a race full of impressive achievements, with fourth place Claudia Stef (ROM) setting a personal best of 1:29:09, the Greek National Record being broken by Athanasia Tsoumeleka (1:29:34), who finished seventh, and another National Record falling to Germany's Melanie Seeger (1:29:44).
China's promising teenager Hongjuan Song, a solid performer this year, was disqualified mid way through the race. She will need more experience in race walking if she is to feature prominently in Athens next year.
Paris 2003 infoteam for IAAF
World 50km Walk
Wednesday 27 August 2003
The walking phenomenon that is Robert KORZENIOWSKI struck again this morning when the Pole took his third World Championship title in this discipline, breaking his own world best performance by 36 seconds in 3:36:03.
Korzeniowski, who also has three Olympic gold medals, made his decisive move just before the half way mark and from there on simply destroyed the rest of the field.
German SKURYGIN of Russia, who was stripped of the 1999 world title because of a doping offence, took his first major championship medal, a silver, in a national record 3:36:42, after a brave effort to chase the Pole down between 35km and 45km.
Former European junior champion Andreas ERM was rewarded for his early efforts to stay with the 35-year-old's relentless pace, taking the bronze medal in a German record time of 3:37:46.
Korzenioski's incredible pace induced another four personal bests among the top eight and a string of season's bests right through the field.
After the first five kilometres there were already seven walkers clear - China's YU Chaohong was leading in 22:33, with Korzeniowski, Erm, Latvia's Aigars FADEJEVS and three Russians, Aleksey VOYEVODIN, Denis NIZHEGORODOV and Skurygin - before a gap of 31 seconds to the rest of the field.
By 10km Korzeniowski was leading the pack, in 44:33, but all seven were still in contention. It was the same at 15km (Korzenioswki in 1:06:47), but by 20km the group was down to six as Yu had already been disqualified.
It was at this point that Korzeniowski made his move, striding past the trio of Russians with Erm in pursuit. The pattern of the rest of the race had been set. The Pole opened a small gap and kept pushing. The Russians, until then chatting amongst themselves as they walked, rapidly adopted more serious expressions.
By the half way mark (passed in 1:50:14), Korzenioswki had six seconds on Erm and 30 on the Russians. Ledejevs had gone and Voyevodin was losing touch with his compatriots as Skurygin made his move. At 30km (2:11:20)Korzenioswki's lead over Erm had stretched to 18 seconds, and he had more than a minute over the Skurygin.
But the Russian had saved his strength and began to make up ground on the German, now 25 seconds behind the leader. He caught Erm and by the 40km mark (passed by Korzeniowski in 2:53:36) was only 19 seconds adrift, with Erm another 16 seconds back. By now the Pole was looking worried, as he had every right to be, for the gap came down to eight seconds, then six at 45km (3:14:51).
But Korzeniowski, who lives in northern France, had yet another gear. He turned the screw again in the final few kilometres to see off the Russian challenge. He entered the brightly lit Stade de France wearing sun glasses and a broad smile, crossing the line 39 seconds clear for a historic victory. The Pole, already the only man to win the world title more than once, now has three to his name.
Paris 2003 infoteam for IAAF