(by Athletics Weekly) 

It used to be the case that fans and officials would disappear for their lunch break when the race walks at the national championships took place. The events still happen at midday, but Tom Bosworth and his fellow race walkers are turning the discipline into a must-see event.

3.000m indoor men

On Saturday in Sheffield the 3000m race walks saw two British records – the first from Bethan Davies as the Cardiff athlete clocked 12:44.99 to win by a minute. Then Tom Bosworth smashed his national best by 17 seconds with 10:58.21.

He could also have come a little closer to Andeas Erm’s world record of 10:31.42 if he had not enjoyed the final stages so thoroughly by waving to the crowd and show-boating his way to victory.

This is partly why Bosworth is becoming so entertaining to watch, though. After crossing the line he danced in front of the crowd and then left them to reflect on how many people can actually run 3km that fast, let alone walk it.

“The really serious stuff starts now,” said Bosworth, who is not only racing superbly lately but doing a great job of publicising his event. “I have got the Olympic qualifying time and I want to get better and improve my PB.

“I want to go to the Olympics knowing that I can be up there with the best. I have been getting quicker and quicker over short distances and now I want to do it over the 20km and show that I can do it internationally as well.”

Bosworth is helping the race walks lose their Cinderella status and is keen to live up to a fine British tradition that includes Olympic gold medal-winning performances in the 1960s from Ken Matthews and Don Thompson. The 26-year-old will also look forward to racing at this championships over 5000m next year – a distance he recently set a UK record of 18:54.18.

“I feel really happy, I love racing indoors in front of a home crowd. I want to make race walking really popular so people can see it is a fun event and that I can walk faster than most people can run and help people connect to that. You cannot just be boring on the track.”

3.000m indoor women

There was a new British record too for Bethan Davies in the women’s 3,000m walk. 

The 25-year-old took an impressive 26 seconds off the previous mark as she crossed the line in 12:44.99.

Full results in the section Results or download directly from this link: click here