(from IAAF web-site)
For more than a fleeting moment, it looked as though Asia – and specifically China – would win their first IAAF World Championships gold medal in the men’s 20km race walk.
The Olympic bronze medallist went into the championships with a winning streak dating back to May last year. After finishing fourth in 2011, he was keen to impress on home soil.
He wasn’t quite the pre-race favourite, though. Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki had broken the world record earlier this year and was his country’s top hope of a medal in Beijing.
But race walks can be unpredictable at the best of times. Add in the depth and pressure that comes with a major championship, combine it with the hot and humid conditions in the Chinese capital, and the form book may as well go out of the window.
Suzuki, as it happened, dropped out just after half way. Olympic champion Chen Ding was the third of the Chinese athletes to cross the finish line. And Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez improved on his finishing position from two years ago to strike gold, making his move with two kilometres to go.
A group of about 20 athletes were bunched together during the early stages. Suzuki, who usually likes to go off fast, chose to stay with the group this time. Instead it was Germany’s Hagen Pohle who made the first break, passing 5km in 20:10.
His lead lasted for just a couple of the one-kilometre laps and he was soon reeled back in by the pack. Chen was leading a three-pronged Chinese attack with Lopez and Canada’s Ben Thorne also within the pack.
After Suzuki dropped out some 45 minutes into the race, Chen, Wang and Chinese compatriot Cai Zelin were still at the front with Lopez close behind.
Little more than a kilometre later, Wang then made a move and opened up a gap. The real racing was now on.
Lopez set out in pursuit of Wang as Ecuador’s Andres Chocho followed with Thorne close behind. A bit further back, Cai almost came to a standstill with what looked to be stomach cramps, but he soon got going again.
The next significant development was the disqualification of Chocho, which instantly put Thorne into a medal position in the closing stages. Wang, meanwhile, was still in the lead but was sitting on two warnings.
At 17km Lopez temporarily drew level with Wang at the water station, but the Chinese race walker sped up again after grabbing a sponge. The same thing happened another kilometre later, reached in 1:11:36.
But with the clock at 1:14:00, Lopez finally struck. Once the European champion went past Wang, there was no looking back.
Lopez maintained his lead to the finish, winning in a PB of 1:19:14 to become Spain’s first 20km race walk world champion since 1993.
Wang held on for second place in 1:19:29, while Thorne – the biggest surprise of the race – took bronze in a Canadian record of 1:19:57.
Ukraine’s Igor Glavan came through for fourth place in 1:20:42, just two seconds ahead of Cai. Chen finished further down in ninth as China was the only country to get three race walkers into the top 10.
But Asia’s wait for a gold medal in the men’s 20km race walk will continue for another two years.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
/from the European Athletics web-site)
As he entered the tunnel from the road to the Bird’s Nest Stadium he raised his right arm, as he reached the track, he lifted up both arms and as he made it around the home turn, into the final 100m, he started to smile.
On a morning in Beijing he will never forget, Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez won the 20km walk at the IAAF World Championships with a stunning performance, the best of his career, to land a major title for the second summer in a row.
A year on from his glory at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich, Lopez is the world champion after victory in a personal best time of 1:19:14, a win which saw him beat Chinese favourite Zhen Wang by 15 seconds with Canada’s Benjamin Thorne (1:19:57) in third.
It was a brilliant display for Lopez, who banks Spain’s first 20km walking gold medal at the world championships since Valenti Massana in Stuttgart in 1993.
And the bronze medallist from Moscow two years ago revealed how much he absorbed those glorious moments as he entered the arena.
Lopez, 27, said: “My last 200m were an incredible sensation – I remembered all those who have helped me.
“I hoped the people of Spain watched me at three in the morning. They should see this unique moment of my life.
“This is the best moment of my life.”
But it had been a tough event, with the humid conditions, and he said: “The course was difficult and complicated, plus the heat. It was a tactical race but I kept my calm.”
Lopez achieved his success with a two-fold approach: gradual progression before a powerful, telling surge for gold.
But a significant point came in the early part of the second half of the race as Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki, who in March broke the world record with his incredible 1:16:36, pulled out.
By then Lopez had moved from 10th at the 5km stage (20:13) to sixth at 10km (40:21) before being 11 seconds behind Wang (59:53) at 15km.
Then came the sucker-punch, as Lopez narrowed that gap in style, putting in a bold move for glory with 2km to go and how it worked as he broke his personal best by seven seconds - and could not stop smiling.
(cover photo by Getty Images)
Miguel Angel Lopez celebrates victory
Wang Zhen celebrates silver in front of his public (photo by Getty Images)
Benjiamin Thorne bronze medal - CAN - during the race (photo by Getty Images)