Aleksandr Ivanov of Russia won gold in the men’s 20-kilometer walk Sunday at the world championships, benefiting from the late disqualification of his closest pursuer.
Ivanov finished the race that started and ended in luzhniki Stadium in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 58 seconds, more than 10 seconds ahead of Olympic gold medalist Chen Ding of China. Miguel Angel lopez of Spain took bronze. Near the 18-kilometer mark, Erick Barrondo of Guatemala edged ahead of Ivanov, not knowing that he had just received his third yellow card and would be disqualified before he could widen the gap.
That left Ivanov well in front of the others to become the youngest winner of a race walk competition at the world championships. Most of the race was run on a loop outside the stadium that offered little shade or relief from late-afternoon heat of 29 degrees C (84 degrees F). The lead changed hands repeatedly, with Takumi Saito of Japan far ahead until the 24th minute, when teammate Yusuke Suzuki overtook him. But Suzuki soon fell to a pursuing pack of Ivanov, Chen, Barrondo and Olympic bronze Wang Zhen of China. Wang soon pulled far ahead, but was disqualified in the 13 kilometer with a third yellow card.
Indians disappoint
Indians disappointed in the men’s 20km Race Walk competition with K T Irfan being disqualified after raising hopes of a creditable finish till the halfway mark. National record holder Irfan was in the sixth position after the halfway mark and was maintaining his spot just before touching the 15-km point. But Irfan, who had finished 10th in the 2012 london Olympics, was stopped by the race officials before the three-fourth mark for race rule violations.
His two compatriots Gurmeet Singh and Chandan Singh finished 33rd and 34th with timings of 1 hour 26 minutes and 47 seconds and 1:26:51 respectively. 20 year-old Aleksandr Ivanov of Russia won the event in personal best effort of 1:2:58 while 2012 london Olympics gold winner Ding Chen (1:21:09) of China and Miquel Angel lopez (1:21:21) of Spain were second and third respectively on the second day of the Championships.
Bolt, a step away
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt remained on course to regain his 100 metres world title as he progressed into Sunday’s final at the World Athletics Championships. Bolt, the 26-year-old world record holder, shadowed the diminutive American Mike Rodgers for most of his semi-final heat, the third of three. Eyes pinned on the big screen, Bolt was in complete control of the race and edged Rodgers at the line by one-hundredth of a second in 9.92sec. “I’m happy with how my legs felt,” said Bolt. “The reaction was okay, the first 10 metres were okay. “The plan for the final is just to execute. World recordIJ I don’t know, we’ll see,” Bolt added.