Poland’s Dawid Tomala takes Olympic Gold in 50km race walk
Above all, it was only the third 50km race in his career ever that turned out to be a decisive one. Tomala made his decisive break from the field as he approached the 30th kilometre.
Since taking that decisive break, he was never threatened en-route to his victory in three hours, 50 minutes and eight seconds.
Relative humidity at 79 percent, to 33°C and 55 percent humidity by 8:30 a.m. and 35°C by 9:00 a.m. it was obvious that the race was not going to create any records.
As expected, it was the slowest winning time since 1972. But Tomala bravely beat the morning conditions – 25.7°C at the start at 5:30 a.m. to taste the Gold.
“What an amazing day for me! I still can’t believe it. The first 30km was so easy for me. It was easy, like a slow training session. Everything was amazing, Very perfect. Hence, I was thinking maybe we can do something,” said the 31-year-old.
 Dawid Tomala celebrates |
Unlike most of the other top performers, his only 50km race walk performance came in Dudince, Slovakia, in March where he clocked 3:49:23s. He did not finish his debut 50km in Dudince in 2017.
China’s Luo Yadong, fifth at the 2019 World Championships, took control with a surge of his own early on, covering the first 10m in 47:57,35s ahead of a 12-man chase pack that included Tomala and teammate Artur Brzozowski, defending champion Matej Toth and Japan’s Satoshi Maruo and Masatora Kawano.
Yadong forged on but began running out of steam in the 19th kilometre, saw his lead reduced to one second at 20km in 1:35:04s. He finally drifted back behind the leaders at 22km.
Walking along with Toth and Tomala, Germany’s Jonathan Hilbert was walking at the front, who was leading a 17-man lead pack that was strung out over about 15m.
Tomala took his first turn at the front at 1:50 into the race, upping the tempo to build a three-second lead but soon drifted back.
He wasn’t yet quite ready for what was to come. “The 50km is so boring, I had to do something,” he explained with a smile.
He surged ahead to build a nine seconds lead at 30km in 2:21:21s, ahead of some 15 challengers that now made up the chase pack. Then, he was transformed into the proverbial man on a mission.
While maintaining his lead with every passing two-kilometre lap, he progressed to 2:27 at 38km, 2:50 at 40km in 3:03:45, to three minutes at 42 and 3:11 at 44km.
He was ahead of Hilbert, who shook off Tur in the final kilometre to finish runner-up.
Canadian Evan Dunfee, who was fourth in Rio de Janeiro 2016, passed Tur in the waning metres to take the Bronze in 3:50:59s.
“My body gave me everything today. It is more than I could ever ask for. I’m so proud of what I accomplished today, but I have been dreaming of this moment and winning this medal for 21 years. I am over the moon,” he said.
Tur held on to finish fourth nine seconds later, with 45-year-old Joao Vieira of Portugal, the Silver Medallist at the 2019 World Championships, next in 3:51:28s.