From Heel and Toe on line n. 52 dated 19.9.2017
Australian representative racewalker Chris Erickson has announced his retirement from international competition (this probably comes as no real surprise to anyone, given he has not competed since the Rio Olympics, just over 12 months ago). What better way to recognise Chris’s wonderful career than by awarding him my Walker of the Week.
At 35 years of age, Chris has been competing with distinction on the international stage since his first Australian vest in 2004. Since then, he has represented Australia at 3 Olympics, 2 Commonwealth Games, 6 IAAF Racewalking World Cups and 4 IAAF World Championships.
| 2004 | Racewalking World Cup | Naumburg | 50 km 31st 4:14:16 |
| 2006 | Commonwealth Games | Melbourne | 50 km 3rd 3:58:22 |
| 2006 | Racewalking World Cup | La Coruna | 50 km 26th 3:59:20 |
| 2007 | IAAF World Champs | Osaka | 50 km 24th 4:13:00 |
| 2008 | Racewalking World Cup | Cheboksary | 20 km 30th 1:22:55 |
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing | 20 km DQ |
| 2009 | IAAF World Champs | Berlin | 50km DNS |
| 2010 | Racewalking World Cup | Mexico | 50km 15th 4:03:56 |
| 2010 | Commonwealth Games | Delhi | 20km 8th 1:28:35 |
| 2012 | Racewalking World Cup | Saransk | 20km 18th 1:22:20 |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | London | 20km 38th 1:24:19 |
| 2013 | IAAF World Champs | Moscow | 50km 16th 3:49:41 |
| 2014 | Racewalking World Cup | Taicang | 50km 10th 3:49:33 |
| 2015 | IAAF World Champs | Beijing | 20km 32nd 1:25:15 |
| 2015 | IAAF World Champs | Beijing | 50km 13th 3:51:26 |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro | 50km 10th 3:48:32 |
Although Chris started Little Athletics in the Under 6 Age Group, it was not until 1996 that he started to train specifically for racewalking, with immediate success. Personal Bests are an accepted measure of improvement and the following chart shows Chris ’s improvement year by year in the various distances over which he has raced. Rarely do you see such continuous improvement over such a long period.
Chris exhibited a number of personal strengths that were evident throughout his athletics career
- He was disqualified only 3 times in his entire walking career, whether at Club, Interclub, State, National or International level; this is indicative of a very safe technique.
- He rarely retired from a race during the 20 years in which he seriously competed. Even on occasions when he was not feeling 100%, he completed the distance.
- He was very consistent in his training and showed an ongoing ability to prioritise his training schedule to fit in with the many demands on his time.
- He always showed considerable race maturity and the confidence in his own ability to "walk his own race", not being drawn into a fast early pace or mid race heroics.
Taken together, these attributes indicate an ideal temperament for long distance walking.
His PBs read impressively. Personally, I think his strongest PB is that for 10km, done in the 2010 IAAF Challenge Final in China.
| 1500 m | 5:36 | 28/02/2009 | Sydney |
| 3000 m | 11:28.83 | 18/02/2012 | Sydney |
| 5000 m | 19:24.95 | 18/11/2011 | Melbourne |
| 10 km | 38:59 | 18/09/2010 | Beijing, China |
| 20 km | 1:22:08 | 15/03/2015 | Nomi, Japan |
| 30 km | 2:09:29 | 08/08/2010 | Melbourne |
| 20 Miles | 2:19:51 | 12/06/2016 | Canberra |
| 50 km | 3:48:40 | 19/08/2016 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |