Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki crossing the finish line to win the men’s race walk gold.
Yusuke Suzuki became the first Japanese race walker to win a world title while China’s Rui Liang took the gold at the flood-lit Doha Corniche on the second day of the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships yesterday.
Suzuki escaped from the pack in the early stages of the race and went on to build the lead, remaining almost unchallenged until the end as he crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
“It was very hot today and I am very happy to win this tough race. After the finish, it took me some time to recover because of dehydration and I also got cramps,” Suzuki said after his win yesterday.
Veteran Portuguese athlete Joao Vieira, 43, made history by becoming oldest medallist ever in the history of the Worlds, finishing second behind Suzuki. Evan Dunfee took bronze and became Canada’s first ever medallist in the 50km race walk.
Suzuki made an unconventional move early on, slipping away into the lead after just a couple of minutes while most of the field deciding to take it easy in the midst of humid conditions.
Suzuki kept extending the lead with each lap. With most of the rest hesitating to challenge, it was the defending champion Yohann Diniz who decided to fight for his title. The Frenchman caught up with Suzuki at 10km, but failed to keep up with Suzuki’s pace and dropped out of the race over the course of the next few rounds.
Olympic champion Matej Toth and Mexico’s Isaac Palma were among those who tried to pursue Suzuki during the first half but no one was able to match the calm and focused Japanese.
The most significant moves of the race came on the final lap as Vieira overtook China’s Niu Wenbin to move into second place. Then Dunfee went past the Chinese race walker before Suzuki celebrated his country’s first medal in Doha.
The women’s category, run concurrently with the men’s event at the same venue which hosted the historic maiden midnight marathon the day before, saw Chinese stars winning the top two spots on the podium.
Liang, 25, a former world record-holder, won China’s first gold medal in Doha in 4 hours, 23 minutes and 26 seconds. Liang’s compatriot Li Maocuo took the silver after finishing the event three minutes later. Italy’s European record-holder Eleonora Giorgi took the bronze medal in 4 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds.
The winners in Doha will only have one more chance to defend their title as the IAAF’s race walking committee has decided to scrap from the World Championships by 2023.
Accordingly, the 20k and 50k events will be replaced with 10k and 30k respectively, with the 2023 World Championships in Budapest the first major event to be affected.
