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December 2009
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2008 in Review: Men's Road Running & Race Walking |
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02.01.2009 |
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| Viktor Röthlin, Europe's number one marathoner
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34-year-old
Swiss Viktor Röthlin, who became the number star in the European marathon
running last year winning the bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, continued his good
run in 2008.
Röthlin started his season with a fine 2:07:23 national record bettering his earlier
personal best and NR from 2008 by 57 seconds winning in Tokyo in February.
In Beijing he beat the
difficult weather and finished in sixth place just 35 seconds from a medal.
Stefano Baldini (ITA), the 2004 Olympic champion and the reigning European
champion from Gothenburg 2006, was the second best European finishing in 12th
place.
Mainly because many of the top athletes were aiming just for the Olympic
marathon in Beijing
there were only two other Europeans under 2 hours and 10 minutes during the
2008 season. Kenyan-born Simon Munyutu, now representing France, ran 2:09:24 and José Ríos (ESP) clocked 2:09:38.
Men's 20km
walking season started as usual, with fast times by Russians in the winter.
This time it was 22-year-old Valeriy Borchin, who became the fifth European
walker to go under 1:18 in
this event. Borchin, who came to fame in 2006 winning the Russian National
Championships in his first ever 20km race and then gaining the silver medal
from the European Championships in his second career race, won the European U23
Championships last year and lowered his personal best to 1:18:56, but did not
finish his race at the World Championships in Osaka.
In Adler at
the National Winter Champs he won with a fast 1:17:55 time winning by 21
seconds before Sergey Bakulin who was timed 1:18:18 personal best for the
second place. In May Borchin challenged Francisco Javier Fernández (ESP) , to
whom he had lost in Gothenburg European Championships in 2006, for the win at
the World Cup in Cheboksary
but again narrowly lost by just six seconds times being 1:18:15 and 1:18:21
respectively.
In June
Sergey Morozov (RUS) walked the fastest ever time 1:16:43, but his result was
not submitted for world record ratification and later Morozov was banned for a
failed drugs test and played no part at the Olympics. In Beijing Fernández, who
was left without an Olympic medal again, was the first of the big names to
dropped off the medal fight. In the end only one European, Borchin was left to compete
with two-time Olympic champion Jefferson Pérez (ECU) for the gold and then
Russian took his first major title in style clocking 1:19:01 for the win.
In the
men's 50km walk Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) finished on top at the World Cup in
Cheboksary setting a world record 3:34:14 for the win. The Russian who won the
silver medal at the 2004 Olympics had finished fourth in Osaka 2007, behind
Alex Schwazer (ITA), who was second in Cheboksary
with a fast season's best 3:37:04.
In Beijing the
pace was fast from the start considering the weather conditions. With the
temperature rising during the competition more and more men started to drop
well back with Schwazer and Nizhegorodov fighting for the lead.
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Italy's Olympic 50km Walk Champion Alex Schwazer
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This time
it was the Italian to walk away to a clear win and Olympic gold, in Osaka he had left his
final kick too late. Schwazer finished in 3:37:09 with Australia Jared Tallent
winning his second medal at the Olympics and passing Nizhegorodov for the
silver in 3:39:27 with the Russian third in 3:40:14. 39-year-old Jesús Ángel
García (ESP), who won the world title back in 1993 in Stuttgart, finished in
fourth place, his best Olympic achievement in fifth Olympics Games 1992-2008
bettering a fifth place finish in Athens 2004.
A couple of European favourites
did not finish the race in Beijing.
Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS), the 2005 World Champion, Yohann Diniz (FRA), the
reigning European champion from Gothenburg 2006 and Trond Nymark (NOR) who was
third at the 2008 World Cup were among the non finishers.
Euro stats:
Marathon
New entries
for the European all-time list:
11th
place 2:07:23 Viktor Röthlin SUI
20km walk
New entries
for the European alltime list:
1st
1:16:43 Sergey Morozov RUS
6th
1:17:55 Valeriy Borchin RUS
16th
1:18:18 Sergey Bakulin RUS
50km walk
New entries
for the European all-time list:
1st
3:34:14 Denis Nizhegorodov RUS 3:34:14
10th
3:38:08 Igor Yerokhin RUS
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