| All of the 2017 walks were held on the same day, on a 2Km loop between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch in the centre of London. The men’s 20Km was the last of the four disciplines. Wang Kaihua led the field past 5Km in 19:54, with 22 others under 20:00. The leading group had slimmed down to 16 by halfway, with Fujisawa heading the field in 39:48. Shortly after, Britain’s hope Bosworth took the lead, but was disqualified in the twelfth kilometre. Wang was back at the head of the group, now down to eight, at the ¾ mark as the pace increased with a 19:43 5Km. Wang and the tall (1.91) Linke continued to force the pace, until Arévalo went to the front in the 17th kilometre. Linke and the 18 yearold Shirobokov joined the Colombian. These three were suddenly caught by Shange, who took the lead after kilometres of 3:48 & 3:46. Arévalo and Shirobokov went clear in the closing stages, with the Colombian breaking free 300m from the finish. Arévalo went across the line flourishing a Colombian flag he had picked up at the final drinks station, finishing 10 metres clear of the Russian neutral, with Bonfim improving one position from Rio to take the bronze. The winner’s halves were covered in 39:50/39:03 and he set a national record, as did the Brazilian and fourth-placed Shange. The first two home completed their race without incurring any warnings. Bonfim was later revealed as having failed a doping test in May 2017, but kept his medal when the AIU ultimately agreed on a deferred six-month suspension in 2018 “after evaluating the athlete’s degree of fault and the gravity of the infraction”. |
