Schwazer sets Olympic record in 50K walk

August 22nd, 2008 | Categorized as Sports | Tagged as Beijing Olympics, Sports

BEIJING - Alex Schwazer of Italy has won the gold medal in the 50 kilometer walk with an Olympic record, beating Australia’s Jared Tallent.

Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia, the silver medalist from the Athens Games and world record holder, took bronze Friday.

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

Tallent, who already won a bronze in the 20 km walk earlier, finished 2.18 minutes behind the winner.

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

This time he did not leave his move late. He was part of a leading group of four which broke away early in the race.

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