Day 5 - Wed, 8/14 - m 50k Walk

Weather Update - 51 minutes into the race: the day dawned cool and rainy, but now the sun is emerging and I fear increasingly steamy conditions for the race walkers this morning.

m 50k  walk

Yohann  Diniz (Fr) and Erick Barrando (Gua) staged an epic battle in the Euro Cup 50k in May with Diniz getting to the finish line two seconds ahead of Oly 20k silver medalist Barrando. Olympic 50k medalists Sergey Kirdyapkin (Rus), Jared Tallent (Aus), and Tiangfeng Si (Chn) are notably absent from the top 20 time lists this year, but Kirdyapkin and Tallent rise to the podium in major meets. Jianbo Li PRed in 7^th place in London and scored a notable 1:18:52 20k PR in winning the Euro Cup in Dudince in May; think of this as a speed workout for long distance walkers!

1. Yohann Diniz, Fr

2. Erick Barrando, Gua

3. Jianbo Li, Chn

(11:00am Friday, 8/9: Late word is that Kirdyapkin, my gold medal pick, is out with injury. I've adjusted my picks accordingly.)