The other major factor on the outcome of the races was the non-presence of the Russians. With Chegin’s entire group seemingly facing doping violations and the only non-Chegin based athlete to be named to the team being a nonstarter with the last minute announcement of an positive EPO test the fields were left much cleaner. The effects of this were evident in all 3 races.

In the Men’s 20km the pace went out relatively pedestrianly for top class standards, with the first 10km passed in only 40:20 with a lead group of 18 still. With a following 5km under 20min the pack was obliterated. Only 3 athletes were able to drop below 20min for their final 5km, which shows the field was suffering to hold on to a moderate pace. Compare that with Daegu when Borchin closed in 38:30 in tougher conditions. 

In the Women’s 20km it was between two women before they had even left the stadium. Liu and Lu were dominant and no one came close to challenging them. Conditions for the women’s race were a bit hotter (25 degrees) and those who paced it right and closed fast were rewarded. Only 5 women in the race managed to have their last 5km the fastest, and those 5 took the top 5 spots overall. For comparison again, consider that the fastest 5km recorded in Beijing was 21:21. In Moscow 2 years ago, Lashmanova and Kirdyapkina closed in 20:17 and 20:20…

The Men’s 50km was a one-man show. With the absence of the Russians and an injured Diniz, everyone expected Matej Toth to literally walk away with this one, which he did with relative ease. Walking at his own pace he put roughly 10sec per 5km on the chase pack, basically doing enough to leave the pack in no doubt about their chances of beating him. Behind Matej the race for the minor places was solid with Tallent and Tanii grabbing the minor medals by virtue of slowing down the least over the final 10km. While the medal times were slower (partially by virtue of a cleaner field) the placement times were solid, with 12 men dipping below 3:50 (6 of which were personal bests). Furthermore, 5 continents were represented in the top 12, a very impressive feat. 

From my perspective the judging seemed consistent with how it has been the last couple years. It does feel like athletes in the main pack are able to get away with a lot in terms of lifting, while those in the mid to back get harshly scrutinized on knees. In the women’s race especially it seemed as though the Chinese could have jogged a couple laps and gotten away with it, between Lu Xiuzhi and Liu Hong nine lifting cautions were given, and only 1 red card (compare that with 104 total cautions for 31 red cards, a 3:1 ratio, for the rest of the field combined). Meanwhile the two Italians, who were fighting valiantly to get back in contact with the Chinese were both DQ’d in the final 3km of the race each picking up only 4 cautions each for their three red cards. Overall though, the judging was consistent with expectations and that is all you can really ask for. 

Evan Dunfee