In the end it came down to a last lap sprint as Pyotr Bogatyrev of Russia swept away from his team-mate, Aleksandr Ivanov, from the 19km mark to successfully defend his title in 1:21.31 at the European Athletics U23 Championships on Wednesday.
And so Russia got away to a confident start to these championships by winning both Walks, with a new name going into the books as Svetlana Vasilyeva lifted women's 20km gold in 1:30.07 as defending champion and fellow Russian, Nina Ochotnikova, failed to live up to her favourite tag finishing no higher than fifth over three minutes in arrears.
In the men's, for Ivanov, who for much of the race had looked the stronger of the two, it was the consolation of a silver medal in a personal best just 4sec down on the winner.
Clear in bronze, but he did it the hard way, was Germany’s Hagan Pohle over three minutes further back.
For reasons best known to himself, it was Pohle who rushed into an early lead that left him a target for the more conservative starting Russians.
By 2km the German held a 8sec lead over Bogatyrev but by 4km the defending champion, with Ivanov as his shadow, had Pohle well within his sights as he got his teeth into the race.
As they passed 6km the Russians hauled in their prey, but Pohle still looked lively as he traded the lead with the Russian duo.
After 8km Ihor Lyashchenko of the Ukraine was in fourth but already 27sec down on the leaders and the medals appeared to be settled. It was just a question of how they would be divided up.
At 9km a precious 5m gap opened up on the German and it now looked like a Russian one-two. By the half way mark, the gap had stretched to 4sec and Pohle was grimacing at the effort of holding on.
Lyashchenko was now 44sec adrift and in danger of being caught by team-mate Oleksandr Verbytskyy.
At 12km the gap between Pohle and the leaders had extended to 14sec, but he still seemed safe in bronze enjoying a 43sec cushion over Lyashchenko.
With 6km to go it was still neck and neck at the front. Bogatyrev had been forcing the pace for the last lap, but it was Ivanov who was looking the fresher of the two.
With Pohle now plummeting and losing seconds with each lap that passed, Verbytskyy had overtaken Lyashchenko but was still 47sec down on the German.
In the end Verbytskyy was to pay for his effort as he in turn was overtaken by Italy’s Massimo Stano who had had a storming second half.
The Italian had reduced a 2min4sec deficit to Pohle at 10km to a slender 21sec at the line, but at least was rewarded with a lifetime best despite losing out on a medal.
In the women's race 20 year old Vasilyeva added U23 gold to European Junior silver she collected in 2011.
Silver went to Ukrainian Lyudmila Olyanovska 30sec down, but living dangerously on two warnings, while Antonella Palmisano repeated her bronze from Ostrava with a lifetime best of 1:30.59.
A group of seven made an early break led by Ochotnikova and third-string Russian Natalya Serezhkina who covered the opening 2km on a cool overcast afternoon in 9:37.
Vasilyeva and Darya Balkunets of Belarus were 1sec down at this stage with Palmisano, France’s Emilie Tissot and Olyanovska in the same tight group.
By 4km the leading group of seven had stretched the gap over the chasing group to 45sec so it was already clear barring mishaps that the medals would be decided from this seven.
At 6km it was Serezhkina forcing the pace, but the decisive break had yet to come. Tissot was struggling however and by the 8km mark she was the first to fall back by some 20sec and subsequently suffered disqualification.
At the half-way mark, it was down to five as Balkunets wilted under the pressure. Up front it was Serezhkina who was making the pace lively with Ochotnikova seemingly suffering.
The next 500m proved crucial as the defending champion started to feel the pace and started to fall further back.
At 12.5km Vasilyeva made the decisive break and with Olyanovska on two warnings there was little the Ukrainian could do to respond.
With 6km to go Vasilyeva was in a clear lead over the Ukrainian with Palmisano pressuring Serezhkina for bronze.
Over the following lap the Italian’s pressure was to tell as she moved into bronze and now only had an 8sec deficit over the silver medal position but she could make no further headway and had to be content with a personal best.
10th July 2013 06:36