Schwazer proves king of the walk

Italian Alex Schwazer defied punishing morning sunshine in Beijing to win the Olympic 50k in a new Games record.

Australian Jared Tallent took silver while world record holder Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia claimed bronze.

Schwazer finished in 3 hours 37.09 minutes, slicing 1.20 minutes off the 20-year-old record.

Tallent, who secured bronze in the 20K walk earlier in the competition, finished 2.18 minutes behind the winner.

Schwazer was third at the last two world championships when he blamed bad tactics for missing gold.

This time, he was part of a leading group of four which broke away early in the race as temperatures hit 30C (85F).

With two-thirds of the race gone, pre-race favorite Yohann Deniz stepped out with a hamstring injury and stomach pains.

"I just cracked mentally and physically," he said. "The conditions were very hard."

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Beijing 2008 - athletics
Olympic schedule from the BOA
Athletics from the BOA
International Athletics
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites