The Spanish athlete won the first gold medal in Budapest 2023
Heavy rain in the capital Budapest on August 19 caused the men's 20km walking event to be delayed by two hours. After that, 50 athletes still had to compete in the pouring rain and hardly stopped before the event ended.
Martin kept his strength and surpassed champion candidate Koki Ikeda when the race was 5km and then won the gold medal with a time of 1 hour 17 minutes 32 seconds - the best parameter in the world in 2023. However, this achievement is 11 seconds behind. with the world record and at the same time the record of the tournament set by Ecuadorian athlete Jefferson Perez in 2003.
Martin is Spain's top walker, winning the 2018 European Championship and finishing seventh in the men's 20 km walk at the 2022 world championship in Eugene, USA. He considers finishing fourth at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics as the biggest motivation when looking forward to the 2023 World Championships, and then emphasizes that winning the gold medal in Budapest today is an important step towards the same goal in Paris 2024.
"I had an incredible race today, I didn't expect I could finish so quickly, it was amazing. I can't express how I feel right now, everything is like a dream," Martin said. exclaimed after winning the first gold medal at Budapest 2023, and then thanked coach Jose Antonio Carillo, his girlfriend and family.
Perseus Karlstrom - who won bronze in the world at 20 km and 35 km in Oregon 2022 - changed his medal color when he finished second with a time of 1 hour 17 minutes 39 seconds to set a Swedish record. Meanwhile, the bronze medal belongs to Caio Bonfim of Brazil - who also set a national record with 1 hour 17 minutes 47 seconds.
Canada's Evan Dunfee, who won bronze in the men's 50 km walk at the last Olympics and world championships - changed the event and immediately achieved initial success. He finished fourth with the national record - 1 hour 18 minutes 3 seconds.
National records were also set by fifth and sixth place finishers, respectively, held by Christopher Linke of Germany (1 hour 18 minutes 12 seconds) and Veli-Matti Partanan of Finland (1 hour 18 seconds) minutes 22 seconds).
The next two finishers - Brian Pintado of Ecuador and Declan Tingay of Australia - shared the best record (PB) with 1 hour 18 minutes 26 seconds and 1 hour 18 minutes 30 seconds respectively.
Toshikazu Yamanishi - who is aiming for a third title in a row - was disappointed when he was far behind the first group at half-way and finished 24th with a time of 1 hour 21 minutes 39 seconds.
Olympic champions Massimo Stano of Italy and David Kenny of Ireland also failed to complete the race, while Marius Ziukas of Lithuania was the only athlete disqualified.
The men's 20km walking event at Budapest 2023 on August 19 witnessed many records, including 18 runners finishing in under 1 hour 20 minutes, three finishing in under 1 hour 18 minutes and ten runners. destination in less than 1 hour 19 minutes.
Joao Vieira - 47-year-old Portuguese athlete - made his 13th appearance at the World Athletics Championships and equaled the record of Spanish athlete Jesus Angel Garcia. Vieira finished 33rd with a record of 1 hour 23 minutes 37 seconds.
