6th May 2018

TRIO OF RACE WALKERS TAKE ON TEAM CHAMPS

A trio of British athletes competed at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in Taicang, China over the weekend.

In his first race since winning the Commonwealth silver medal last month, it was a day of mixed emotions for Tom Bosworth (Andi Drake). After putting himself in sixth position and in contention at the head of the field, Bosworth received his third red card which meant he faced a two-minute penalty in the pitstop, part of the new rules system implemented for the event. The penalty impacted upon Bosworth who could not reel in the leaders, eventually crossing the line in 14th in a time of 1:23.54.

The 20km race was won by Japan’s Koki Ikeda in 1:21.13 who pipped China’s Kaihua Wang to silver.

There were tough conditions for the women’s 20km race with British duo Gemma Bridge (Mark Wall) and Bethan Davies (Drake) feeling the effects.

Bridge will be pleased with a season best of 1:35.43 to place 53rd overall. Commonwealth bronze medallist Bethan Davies contended with a niggle to the knee but pushed to the end of the contest, settling for 64th in 1:37.31.

The women’s 20km race was won by Mexico’s Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez who held off Chinese duo Shijie Qieyang and Jiayu Yang.

Full results from the championships can be found here.