Stano beats heat for gold in 20km walk

MASSIMO Stano of Italy conquered the heat in Sapporo to win the Olympic men’s 20-kilometre race walk on Thursday as host nation Japan took silver and bronze.

The event was held in the northern city of Sapporo to avoid Tokyo’s searing summer heat but temperatures were still an uncomfortable 32 degrees Celsius when the race began.

The 29-year-old won in 1hr 21min 05sec with Koki Ikeda nine seconds behind and Toshikazu Yamanishi trailing in third.