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Glorious Toth has all the answers

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As he passed the bell, he afforded himself a small smile and then the expression of delight on his face grew wider with every stride into the stadium.

Even as he was pouring water over his head and back, a bottle in each hand, to cool down in the searing heat of a Beijing morning, he was having the time of his life and his opponents were celebrating with him too.

That is how good Matej Toth was today as he made his way into history by dominating the 50km walk with a performance that ended in victory in 3:40:32, the first time Slovakia had won a gold medal at the IAAF World Championships.

What it meant to him was perhaps shown no better than when he stood on the podium, stretching out both arms in celebration, his face beaming in one of the pictures of the whole week in China.

'I want to keep this feeling and the memories of entering this beautiful stadium forever,' said Toth. 'I just hope I will get to enjoy such a special moment at least once more in my life.'

The European silver medallist triumphed with a display that was only interrupted by a toilet break, but not even that pit stop early in the second half of the race had any effect on his lead and his control.

He won by over 90 seconds from Australia’s Jared Tallent (3:42:17) and Japan’s Takayuki Tanii (3:42:55) with Ireland’s defending champion Robert Heffernan (3:44:17) in fifth.

Toth, 32, is one of the great performers in his discipline.

He was the World Race Walking Cup 50km champion in 2010, 12 months ago he won silver (3:36:21) at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich as France's Yohann Diniz broke the world record (3:32:33) and earlier this year he was second in Murcia over 20km at the European Race Walking Cup.

By then he had become 2015's world No. 1 with his 3:34:38 from Dudince in March, the third best time in history, and he transferred that walk into gold as he took the lead as the race began and quickly stretched his advantage.

Toth was in front by eight seconds at 5km from Brazil’s Mario Jose Dos Santos Jr, by 27 seconds at 10km from Heffernan to almost a minute at halfway from China’s Lin Zhang. At 30km, he made his stop and though it was a break, it was not enough for his rivals to make any impact.

Speaking to AFP, Toth added: 'I lost maybe 25 seconds there but it helped. I controlled my heartbeat and there was a small group of Slovak fans cheering for me which helped a great deal as well.'

He removed his cap in the second half of the race and though the sun was hot, it never seemed to trouble him as he was in total command, with his rhythm rarely straying as he maintained a consistent balance.

And, as the stadium came into sight for the final time on this looped course, a great moment as he lapped Chris Erickson, with the Australian patting him on the back - sportsmanship at its highest level; within seconds it was the big crowd rising to acclaim Toth as he made his way along the 100m stretch before crossing the line for a superb triumph.

It was some morning for Spain’s Jesus Angel Garcia, too, as, at the age of 45, and as the oldest competitor in Beijing, he finished ninth (3:46:43) at his 12th IAAF World Championships, having been champion back in Stuttgart in 1993.



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