Vieira defies ‘hell’ to win silver at 43
DOHA: Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki won the World Championship 50km race walk on Sunday while 43-year-old Joao Vieira defied conditions he described as “hell” to become the oldest man to win a medal in any event. The Portuguese veteran, taking part in his 11th World Championship, finished second while Canada’s Evan Dunfee was third.
Suzuki led for virtually the entire race, held in torrid conditions, as he won in a time of four hours 04:20 minutes. China’s Liang Rui won the women’s race in four hours 23.26 minutes ahead of compatriot Li Maocuo with Eleonora Anna Giorgi of Italy in third. The races began at 11.30pm to avoid the worst of the Doha heat but conditions were still stifling with high humidity. “For me, it was hell ... very, very hot ... it was very bad,” Vieira said. “How did I cope? Just a lot of ice and cold water.”
Vieira, who said that he intended to compete in his final World Championship in two years’ time, added that the late hour was also a challenge.
“It’s four o’clock in the morning—that’s the time to leave a nightclub. I usually go to sleep at 10 o’clock in the evening,” said Vieira, who added to the bronze medal he won in Moscow in 2013 in the 20km.
“I feel great ... it’s not every day that you win a medal, especially at the age of 43. (The secret) is to train every day with pleasure, and do what I enjoy doing— which is athletics. Just that.”
Apart from the late hour and the brutal weather, the race was held in a somewhat surreal atmosphere with almost no spectators apart from the athletes’ team mates, officials and reporters. The races consisted of 25 loops of Doha’s waterfront highway although the athletes only got small glimpses of the sea because of advertising hoardings and floodlight towers along the length of the course.
INDIA QUALIFY
The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after reaching the finals in the World Championships. The team of Muhammed Anas, VK Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Tom Nirmal Noah clocked 3 minutes 16.14 seconds to finish third in heat 2.
The finalists (top 8) are automatic qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics.
Anas ran the first leg and after that Vismaya led the whole second leg, giving India the lead midway into the race. Third leg runner Jisna was overtaken by Japan Poland. The baton exchange between Jisna and final leg runner Noah was not that smooth and there was loss of split seconds. But in the end, Noah was able to finish third to take India to the World Championships final and Tokyo Olympics.
India finished seventh overall with United States on top of timings chart with 3:12.42.