Rio 2016 Athletics Ireland Day 8 Report

Rio Olympics - Athletics Day 8

Friday August 14th 2016

Rio Olympics 2016 Irish 50k Racewalk Trio min

Irish Athletes in Action Today

Day 8 Friday August 19

Rio time	Irish time	Event	Athlete
08:00	12:00pm	50km Race Walk M Final	Robert Heffernan (Togher)
08:00	12:00pm	50km Race Walk M Final	Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny)
08:00	12:00pm	50km Race Walk M Final	Alex Wright (Leevale)

Live TV
RTE News Now - Sky Channel 578

Athletics Ireland Report - Friday August 18th

Report by Feidhlim Kelly

Heffernan a fine fifth at fifth Olympics

Robert Heffernan (Togher) finished a magnificent fifth in the 50km race walk in 3:43:55 in his fifth Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro today (August 19).

Heffernan initially crossed the line in sixth but Japan’s Hirooki Arai (third across the line) was subsequently disqualified due to a collision with Canada’s Evan Dunfee. Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny) broke into the top 20 with an excellent 18th in 3:53:59. Unfortunately Alex Wright (Leevale) was forced to withdraw mid-race due to a fluid intake problem.

“At 36-38km I thought I was going to win it,” said Heffernan afterwards. “I got bad cramps then but it’s still a magnificent performance. I’m still there or there abouts so you’ve to take the positives.

“This is the only day of the year that counts. Obviously I would have liked to have won a medal. I love training in the summer and I love training for these championships. It’s all about tunnel vision and getting ready for the big day.

“I’ve got such great support and messages from everyone on Facebook and Twitter and it helps when you’re working hard in that last 10 kilometres. I would have loved to have won a medal for them but it’s still a great performance.”

Heffernan has a remarkable Olympic record since making his debut in Sydney in 2000. He finished 8th in the 20km in Beijing in 2008, 9th in the 20km and third in the 50km in London 2012, and fifth in the 50km in Rio today.

His splits were as follows: 5km 22:39, 10km 44:48, 15km 1:06:53, 20km 1:29:05, 25km 1:51:12, 30km 2:13:02, 35km 2:34:55, 40km 2:57:18, and 45km 3:20:14.

Brendan Boyce was delighted with his top 20 performance and felt he got his race plan spot on. “I stuck to my race plan. I went off conservatively for the first 10km. I got in with a good group and it held together for about 25-35km and then people went into their own zones but I was always catching people.

“Physically my energy was good, my energy was good. My hip flexors got at me at 35km and cost me probably ten seconds per kilometre pace wise but I didn’t hit the wall. I’m delighted with how I’ve progressed.”
You can watch video interviews on Athletics Ireland Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AthleticsIreland/

Splits

Official Results, including Live Splits

Mark	Leader	Rob Heffernan	Alex Wright	Brendan Boyce
5k	Diniz 22:10	22:39 (5)	22:59 (21)	23:32 (48)
10k	Diniz 44:18	44:48 (3)	45:51 (18)	46:43 (44)
15k	Diniz 1:05:58 1, possibly 2 yellows	1:06:53 (7)	1:08:38 (21)	1:08:37 (42)
20k	Diniz 1:27:41	1:29:05 (9)	1:31:15 (11) Leading 2nd group)	1:32:27 (37)
25k	1:49:31	1:51:12 (5)	1:54:10 (26)	1:55:46 (34)
30k	2:11:29	2:13:02 (5)	2:19:45 (34) TV reports Alex Wright has collapsed on course	2:18:58 (30)
	Diniz has stopped but has restarted		Alex Wright appears to be still going! Waiting for confirmation. Appears that a Hungarian athlete in similar colours was mistaken by TV for Alex Wright.
35k	Dunfee 2:34:39	2:34:55 (7)	No time split listed for Alex Wright	2:42:20 (29)
	Diniz has had a full blown collapse, but has restarted again		Alex Wright has pulled out
40k	Tallent 2:56:54	2:57:18 (6)		3:06:24 (24)
45k	Tallent 3:18:47	3:20:14 (6)		3:30:21 (21)
50k - Finish	World Champion Toth Wins! 3:40:58 Tallent 2nd 3:41:16 Arai 3rd - 3:41:38	3:43:55 (6)		3:53:59 (19)