News23 Jul 2010


Men's 10,000m Walk Final

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Valery Filipchuk of Russia sets a World Junior leading time to win the 10,000m walk (© Getty Images)

abValery Filipchuk completed a Russian sweep of the 10,000m walk titles when he eked out a narrow win over China's Zelin Cai, 40:43.17 to 40:43.59. Filipchuk's teammate Petr Bogatyrev picked up the bronze for Russia in 40:50.37.

Filipchuk was never far from the front, shadowing early leaders David Ngei (KEN) and Hagen Pohle (GER) through kilometre splits of 4:01.67, 8:08.55 and 12:18.90. Ngei, who worked hard to stay in front or on the shoulder of the leaders, covered moves from Filipchuk and Ever Palma of Mexico as the pace slowed slightly in the third kilometre.

Around 3600m, Filipchuk, Cai, Bogatyrev and Palma stepped the pace up again, reaching 4km in 16:19.18. Ngei seemed to go backwards through the back before finally becoming the first athlete disqualified, before he reached the 5,000m mark.

Palma was leading at halfway as the pack slackened again, 20:32.57 at the 5,000m mark and then 24:45.07. The leading four had slowed enough at this point that they were joined by several other walkers overtaking them, but they also worked through some lapped walkers at about the same time.

Finally the two Russians mounted another breakaway around the 8km mark, where their split was 32:58.10. Bogatyrev led the move, followed by Cai, Filipchuk, and Cai's teammate Fudong Cong.

No one walker was able to break from this group for several laps, though Cong never managed to get solidly in contact with the lead three and was eventually disqualified. At the bell, it was Cai in the front in 39:18.19 with the two Russians hot on his heels, but Bogatyrev was cautioned on the corner and it was up to Filipchuk to mount the winning drive.

Filipchuk's long strides carried him in front of Cai on the backstretch, but he wasn't able to separate himself from the tenacious Chinese walker. On the homestretch Filipchuk swung wide so both would have a clear path to the line, and finally claimed victory by less than half a second. Cai and Bogatyrev both earned PBs.

Bogatyrev finished without further mishap for bronze, but their next pursuer, Jose Leonardo Montana of Columbia, was disqualified on the homestretch as he drove for the finish, to his visible anguish. Fourth went to Caio Bonfim of Brazil in 41:32.28.

Trevor Barron set a USA junior record in seventh, walking 41:50.29. Nearly all of the first fourteen finishers reached personal or seasonal bests, with Filipchuk establishing a new world junior leading mark for the event.

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