Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 kilometres walk

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Men's 50 kilometres walk
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Staff Sgt. John Nunn race walks 50 kilometers at Rio Olympic Games (28472926634).jpg
View of a chasing group during the men's 50 kilometres walk
Venue Pontal
Date19 August 2016
Competitors63 from 35 nations
Winning time3:40:58
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Matej Tóth Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia
Silver medal icon.svg Jared Tallent Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Bronze medal icon.svg Hirooki Arai Flag of Japan.svg  Japan
  2012
2020  

The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on 19 August. Matej Tóth, winner of the 2015 World Championships from Slovakia won the gold medal, reigning Olympic champion Jared Tallent from Australia finished second and Japanese walker Hirooki Arai took the bronze. The winning time was 3:40:58.

Canadian Evan Dunfee was awarded the bronze medal after Athletics Canada successfully filed a protest because Arai had made contact with Dunfee in the last 2 km of race, but the Japanese committee appealed the decision, and the medal was reinstated for Arai. [1]

Summary

Off the start line, Vladimir Savanović went for the lead putting an immediate gap on the field and getting four minutes of worldwide television time. Before the first kilometre was over, world record holder Yohann Diniz lost his tolerance for the breakaway and went after Savanović, quickly bridging the gap. Savanovic was already showing signs of fading and disappeared back into the pack. Diniz stayed out front. Over the first 4 kilometres, the race broke up, with a lead pack of about nine separating from the larger pack of the field, with a smaller group of four stuck in between. The lead pack at 5K, already 29 seconds behind Diniz, consisted of Matej Tóth, Jared Tallent Evan Dunfee, Robert Heffernan, Andres Chocho, Horacio Nava, Yu Wei, Takayuki Tanii and Matteo Giupponi. Hirooki Arai bridged the gap and joined the lead pack.

The gap stayed consistent through 10K, but the next 5K, Diniz accelerated his pace, opening up the gap to 55 seconds. Diniz began to pick up lapped walkers already. By 20K, the pack was 1:24 behind Diniz and had over 2 minutes on the next group, with no stragglers in between. Leading up to the half way mark, Toth made a test surge, but Dunfee and the rest of the pack pulled it back except Tanii who fell off the back. Diniz had a 1:41 advantage at half way. Dunfee was the next to attack, picking up the pace by some 20 seconds over the next 5K. The back began to string out behind with Toth trying to cover the move, Tallent leading Heffernan, Arai, Yu and Chocho as the others remaining in contact. Dunfee broke away from the pack and continued to take time out of the gap to Diniz, bringing it down to 1:15.

Suddenly at the 33K mark, Diniz stopped in front of his coach. For an agonizing 1:15 Diniz stood by the railing. When Dunfee arrived, he patted Diniz on the pack and Diniz joined Dunfee in the lead. It was only until the next water stop that Diniz was able to struggle to stay with Dunfee, then the gap began to grow. Within the next half kilometre Chocho was shown the red paddle, asking him off the course. Before the 35K mark, Heffernan began to lose contact, further shrinking the pack. Diniz was caught by the next water stop, where he tried to join the back of the pack. Another 2 minutes and Diniz stopped again, falling backward onto the pavement, lying on the street. Attendants rushed to him with ice and water. Within 30 seconds, Diniz was back on his feet racing, now well behind the pack of four (Toth, Tallent, Arai and Yu) and even the straggler Heffernan. Coming in to the 39K mark, the pack quickly pulled in Dunfee. During the next kilometre, Tallent was the next to attack, Arai tried to cover the move for a short distance but fell back to the pack. With the new injection of speed, Yu fell off the back. With Tallent pulling away, Toth and Arai walked together as Dunfee fell off the back. For the next 7K, Tallent extended his lead. Around 44K, Toth started to separate from Arai.

During the last half of the penultimate lap, Toth noticeably began to gain on Tallent, passing him just before the bell and pulling away. Behind them Dunfee began to see Arai come back into range. Within the next 500 metres, Dunfee had passed Arai. After falling back about 10 metres, Arai surged back on Dunfee but as he passed, Arai didn't use the width of the street, instead almost going deliberately at Dunfee's left side. The two made contact twice, Dunfee being knocked off stride as Arai suddenly gained a 10-metre advantage. A tired Dunfee struggled to find his form. Toth had built up enough of a lead he was celebrating before the crowd, accepting a Slovak flag more than 100 metres before the finish. Arai was gaining on Tallent but Tallent managed to hold his form together long enough to cross six seconds ahead of Arai. Dunfee wobbled across the finish line 14 seconds later, collapsing past the finish line. The first four finished within 40 seconds. [2]

While Toth continued to celebrate on his feet, medical attendants had to deal with the other three finishers exhausted on the ground at the finish line. Another five minutes and four more finishers later, Diniz crossed the finish line after struggling and stopping multiple times. 19 seconds after Diniz, Caio Bonfim crossed the line to a big cheer setting the new Brazilian record. Dunfee had also set the Canadian record. After the race, Athletics Canada filed a protest based on the contact with Arai, resulting in Arai's disqualification with Dunfee being awarded third place and the bronze medal. That decision was then appealed by Japan Association of Athletics Federations and was reversed.

Schedule

All times are Brazil time (UTC−3)

DateTimeRound
19 August 201609:00Final

Records

Prior to this event, the world and Olympic records stood as follows:

World recordFlag of France.svg  Yohann Diniz  (FRA)3:32:33 Zürich, Switzerland15 August 2014
Olympic recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Jared Tallent  (AUS)3:36:53 London, Great Britain11 August 2012
2016 world leadingFlag of France.svg  Yohann Diniz  (FRA)3:37:48 Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, France13 March 2016

Results

Key:NRNational recordPBPersonal bestSBSeasonal best~Loss of contact>Failure to straighten knee
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Matej Tóth Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 3:40:58
Silver medal icon.svg Jared Tallent Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:41:16 SB
Bronze medal icon.svg Hirooki Arai Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3:41:24 SB
4 Evan Dunfee Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 3:41:38 NR
5 Yu Wei Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:43:00
6 Robert Heffernan Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 3:43:55
7 Håvard Haukenes Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 3:46:33 PB
8 Yohann Diniz Flag of France.svg  France 3:46:43
9 Caio Bonfim Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 3:47:02 NR
10 Chris Erickson Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:48:40 PB
11 Wang Zhendong Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:48:50
12 Quentin Rew Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 3:49:32
13 Horacio Nava Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 3:50:53~
14 Takayuki Tanii Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3:51:00~
15 Adrian Blocki Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 3:51:31
16 Omar Zepeda Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 3:51:35~
17 Jorge Armando Ruiz Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 3:51:42> PB
18 Serhiy Budza Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 3:53:22 SB
19 Brendan Boyce Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 3:53:59
20 Jesús Ángel García Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 3:54:29
21 Marco de Luca Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:54:40
22 Rafał Augustyn Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 3:55:01>
23 Jarkko Kinnunen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 3:55:43
24 Rafał Fedaczyński Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 3:55:51
25 José Leyver Ojeda Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 3:56:07
26 Dušan Majdán Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 3:58:25>> SB
27 Koichiro Morioka Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3:58:59
28 Alexandros Papamichail Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 3:59:21
29 Jonathan Rieckmann Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 4:01:52~
30 Ronald Quispe Flag of Bolivia.svg  Bolivia 4:02:00 NR
31 Narcis Stefan Mihaila Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 4:02:46 PB
32 Pedro Isidro Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 4:03:42~
33 Tadas Suskevicius Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 4:04:10
34 Rolando Saquipay Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador 4:07:29
35 Sandeep Kumar Flag of India.svg  India 4:07:55~
36 Miguel Carvalho Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 4:08:16
37 Arnis Rumbenieks Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 4:08:28
38 Marc Mundell Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 4:11:03
39 Ivan Banzeruk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 4:11:51
40 Brendon Reading Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:13:02
41 Mario Alfonso Bran Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala 4:15:14>
42 Vladimir Savanović Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 4:15:53
43 John Nunn Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:16:12
44 Bence Venyercsán Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 4:19:15
45 Claudio Villanueva Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador 4:19:33
46 Nenad Filipovic Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 4:25:41
47 Han Yucheng Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 4:32:35>>
48 Pavel Chihuán Flag of Peru.svg  Peru 4:32:37>
49 Predrag Filipović Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 4:39:48>
Kim Hyun-sub Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea DNF
Ivan Trotski Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus DNF >
Ihor Hlavan Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine DNF
Miguel Ángel López Flag of Spain.svg  Spain DNF
Carl Dohmann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany DNF
Hagen Pohle Flag of Germany.svg  Germany DNF >
Matteo Giupponi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy DNF
Mathieu Bilodeau Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada DNF
Artur Mastianica Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania DNF
José Leonardo Montaña Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia DNF >~
Alex Wright Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland DNF
Jose Ignacio Diaz Flag of Spain.svg  Spain DNF >>
Marius Cocioran Flag of Romania.svg  Romania DNF
Sándor Rácz Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DNF
Luis Henry Campos Flag of Peru.svg  Peru DNF >>
Mário dos Santos Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil DNF
Veli-Matti Partanen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland DNF
Yerenman Salazar Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela DNF
Joao Vieira Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal DNF
Edward Araya Flag of Chile.svg  Chile DQ >>~ R 230.7a
Teodorico Caporaso Flag of Italy.svg  Italy DQ ~ ~ ~ R 230.7a
Andres Chocho Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador DQ ~ ~ ~ R 230.7a
Lukáš Gdula Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic DQ >>> R 230.7a
Dominic King Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain DQ >>> R 230.7a
Luis Lopez Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador DQ >~~ R 230.7a
Aleksi Ojala Flag of Finland.svg  Finland DQ >>> R 230.7a
Park Chil-sung Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea DQ ~ ~ ~ R 230.7a
Jaime Quiyuch Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala DQ >~> R 230.7a
James Rendon Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia DQ ~ ~ ~ R 230.7a
Miklós Srp Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DQ >~> R 230.7a
Martin Tišťan Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia DQ >>> R 230.7a

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References

  1. Harrison, Doug (19 August 2016). "Evan Dunfee loses bronze on Japanese appeal in 50km race walk". CBC Sports . Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-08-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)