London 2012 Olympics: Kirdyapin walks into record books

Sergei Kirdyapkin of Russia won gold in the gruelling 50-kilometre walk at the London Games yesterday, breaking the Olympic record by more than a minute to come in ahead of Australia’s Jared Tallent.

Kirdyapkin took a commanding lead at the 45-kilometre mark and crossed the finish line near Buckingham Palace in 3 hours, 35 minutes, 59 seconds – 54 seconds ahead of Tallent, who claimed silver. Si Tianfeng of China was 1 minute, 17 seconds behind to win bronze.

Si looked on course for victory when he wiped out a 20-second deficit and went clear of the field at the 35km mark, but when he faded Kirdyapkin took over at the front and was never in danger of being caught.

The previous Olympic mark of 3:37.09 was set by Alex Schwazer of Italy when he won the race at the Beijing Games four years ago. Schwazer was expelled from the London Olympics after he failed a doping test before the games. He later admitted having used the blood-boosting hormone EPO, saying he felt immense pressure to defend his title in London.

With Schwazer out, Russian walkers were the favourites to claim the gold.

A Russian last won the event at the 1992 Barcelona Games and Kirdyapkin said the walkers trained as a team in the lead-up to the Olympics and raced together on Saturday along the streets of central London.

“It was just the destiny today that one would go first and the others go after,” he said.

After leading most of the race, world champion Sergei Bakulin finished sixth, 2 minutes and 56 seconds behind the winner. His Russian team-mate and a medal favourite, Igor Erokhin, was fifth.

Ireland’s Robert Heffernan was fourth in a national record of 3hrs 37mins 54secs, just holding off Erokhin on the line as both athletes were given the same time.

Heffernan finished ninth in the 20km walk seven days ago and was also fourth in both walks at the European Championships in Barcelona in 2010.

The 34-year-old said: “I wanted to win an Olympic medal, it’s been my dream. I did everything I could, it’s hard to take to finish fourth. The last four years have been aimed at winning a medal at the Olympics so it’s tough.

“The first 30km was just making sure I was refuelling, making sure I had the reserves to challenge on the last 20km. I had to be mature because you can get carried away by the unbelievable crowd. I stuck to the plan and it’s just unfortunate I did not win a medal. There’s nothing more I could have done.”

Britain’s Dominic King was 51st in 4:15.05, last of the competitors not to drop out or be disqualified.

Despite being the last man to cross the line, King received a huge cheer from the crowd and had even been exchanging high-fives on the last two-kilometre lap.

“I didn’t realise how fast I was walking so when I started to high-five the first lot of people on the lap my arm soon became pretty tired after about 50m and I realised I had another 1,950m to go, so not everyone got a high-five,” the 29-year-old said.

“But I fully appreciate the support that came out today, not just supporting myself, but everyone in the field. That can lift you.”

King was examined by medical staff as a precaution after a race he admitted equates to more than four hours of agony, but was more concerned by an early warning he was handed during the early stages.

“Unfortunately I’ve had issues in the past with getting disqualified and I’ve been working on it for the last two years,” he added.

“My priority was always to finish and the second priority was to get a personal best. I didn’t do too bad today, it was my third fastest time ever and I had to get an eight-minute personal best just to qualify so medals were never going to be in the equation, but I feel like I got my own medal just by getting the biggest cheer of the day.”