Australian walker Jared Tallent has recorded his first ever international 20km victory at the third edition of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge held on the Beijing Olympic course this morning.
Competing against a top-class field dominated by members of the Chinese walking powerhouse, Tallent sat in the lead pack for the entire race, quashing any attempts his rivals made at opening up a gap. However with 3km to go, the Ballarat walker made his move, holding the lead until he crossed the finish line in 1:20.11.
His nearest challenger, Hao Wang of China, 14 seconds behind in 1:20:25, with Mexico’s Eder Sanchex, fourth at last year’s world titles, in third position clocking 1:20.57.
In other promising news ahead of next month’s World Cup, fellow AIS athlete Chris Erickson once again destroyed his previous best, slicing 21 seconds off to finish 11th in 1:23.29.
However the news wasn’t as positive for reigning Challenge title holder Luke Adams, who was forced to withdraw from the race at the 4km mark with a hamstring complaint. National silver medallist Adam Rutter, also suffered the same fate, pulling out at the 8km mark injured.
isHis neCoach Brent Vallence, who witnessed Tallent’s victory unfold from the sidelines, was delighted with the gutsy performance of his 23-year-old charge.
“Jared was an outside chance coming in but to dominate the field like he did, cover every move, and then break away at the 17km mark, it was just fantastic,” explained Vallence.
“It was a slower race than usual. We’ve been coming to this leg of the Challenge for the last four years, and he’s PB’d here every year except this year, but his time was good enough to win it.”
The win is just another highlight in 2008 for Tallent, who has already been selected to contest both the 20km and 50km events in Beijing, after taking out both national titles during the Australian summer, the shorter distance in an outstanding sub-80 minute time.
The Challenge event also doubled as the official race walk test event for the Beijing Olympic Games, the 91,000 seat ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium unveiled for the first time in competition mode.
The Australian race walking contingent now head to London, where they will meet up with world champion Nathan Deakes for a three-week training camp in preparation for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup to be held in Cheboksary, Russia next month (May 10-11).