With an excellent climate and a temperature between 9 and 11 degrees Celsius, at 6:30 in the morning the almost 40 Chinese athletes of the 50 km walk set off to conquer the national title and qualification in the next Tokyo Olympics.
Today the route has been extended to 2km per lap instead of 1km of yesterday.
As often happens, the very fast course for the 20km races (as we saw yesterday) proves to be particularly difficult for the 50km. Everyone in the end suffered from fatigue, especially on a muscular level.
A race that up to 35km he predicted a mark in perspective around 3:40:00 it turned out to be very difficult in the final part.
Also in this race, as in all the 50km walk, there was no lack of unexpected twists and opportunities.
At first, two athletes from Shangdong province took the lead at a very fast pace. Their technique left a lot to be desired and soon they were rightfully stopped by the jury.
This led to a group composed of Wang Qin, Wang Rui, Luo Yadong, Zhaxi Yangben who remained firm up to 35 km, when Luo Yadong (5th at the Doha World Championships) managed to take advantage of the fatigue of his opponents by lengthening the pace and finishing the race in first place in 3:46:51.
below his split times each 10km:
- 10km: 44:08
- 20km: 1:28:27 (44:19)
- 30km: 2:12:48 (44:22)
- 40km: 2:57:16 (44:27)
- last 10km: 49:35
Remain behind Wang Qin (2nd place with 3:47:35), Wang Rui and Zhaxi Yangben.
Shortly after, Wang Rui (4th place) was stopped in penalty area by the judges for 5 minutes.
Zhaxi Yangben goes into crisis and unexpectedly lets himself be recovered by team mate Bian Tongda (3rd classified with 3:47:56), before abandoning the race on a stretcher.
Bian Tongda, during his comeback, manages to recover, at first, also Wang Qin who, however, in the final even at the end of his strength manages to 2 km. from the finish to overtake the rival again.
Thirty-three athletes took part in the competition, 8 DNF and 2 DQ.
Of note is the colorless performance of Niu Wenbin (4th at the Doha World Championships) who finished in 15th position in 4:03:31.
After yesterday's spectacular races in the men's and women's 20km, another wonderful race was also expected today. It wasn't like that for the time trial, but we still saw a great event and a splendid Sunday of sport.
Ordine d’arrivo primi 12:
| 1 | Lu Yadong | 1992 | 3:46:51 |
| 2 | Wang Qin | 1994 | 3:47:35 |
| 3 | Biang Tongda | 1991 | 3:47:56 |
| 4 | Wang Rui | 1996 | 3:49:08 |
| 5 | Zeng Qingsheng | 1995 | 3:50:49 |
| 6 | Meng Zhongkai | 1997 | 3:51:50 |
| 7 | Sun Song | 1996 | 3:52:36 |
| 8 | Wang Hao | 2000 | 3:54:09 |
| 9 | Zhang Chenchen | 1999 | 3:56:54 |
| 10 | Gong Fanglong | 1998 | 3:57:22 |
| 11 | Peng Shiyi | 1998 | 3:58:23 |
| 12 | Li Jian | 1999 | 3:59:05 |
Altre foto - More photos