The first race walk at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow was the men’s 20km. Unlike recent World Championships, the event started on the track inside the stadium, continued to a 2km loop along the river and then finished back inside the stadium after a lap plus on the track.
Uncharacteristically warm at 85 degrees the only sunny spot on the track was the start line. Fortunately, the athletes didn’t hang out long with the gun going off promptly at 5:00 PM. Immediately at the start, Alejandro Francisco Florez took the lead. However, he would not stay there.
The close nit pack followed, with our own Tim Seaman walking conservatively as always as the caboose.
The pack left the stadium
And by the time they were halfway around the loop a clear leader emerged in Japan’s Takumi Saito who opened up a few second lead over Russia’s Andrey Ruzavin, Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki and Ukraine’s Andrii Kovenko in hot pursuit.
A large pack followed with Ukraine’s Ruslan Dmytrenko and India’s Irfan Kolothum Thodi at the helm.
The final pack included USA’s Tim Seaman.
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