Men’s 50km walk race to be retained for Tokyo 2020

Fears that the men’s 50km walk race would be removed from the athletics programme from next year have been allayed, at least until after Tokyo 2020, potentially allowing Rob Heffernan the chance to compete in a record sixth Olympics.

Having produced two of Ireland’s major championship medals in the event in recent years, Heffernan was among those to back a petition to save the event ahead of this week’s IAAF Council Meeting in London.

Despite a recommendation to remove the 50km event and replace it with a half marathon distance for both men and women, the IAAF has voted to retain the event through to Tokyo 2020, with a review then taking place.

The IAAF is considering several amendments to its competition structures, but the removal of the men’s 50km walk from all major competitions such as the World Championships and Olympics was met with considerable objection.

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A petition started by Australia’s Jared Tallent and Slovakia’s Matej Tóth, the respective 50km Olympic champions at London 2012 and Rio 2016, contained almost 10,000 signatures, and was submitted to IAAF president Seb Coe ahead of the council meeting.

Open race

The single half-marathon distance (21.5km) would clearly favour those who currently compete in the shorter 20km race, but that has been abandoned for now. The 50km walk remains the only one of 47 Olympic athletics events without a corresponding female event, although from this year the IAAF has made the 50km an open race, which means women are allowed to compete if selected by their country.

At age 39, Heffernan might feel his best years are behind him ,yet the Cork man has not yet ruled out competing in the 50km walk through to Tokyo 2020. In Rio he became the first Irish athlete to compete in five consecutive Olympics, and is already eyeing up another World Championship appearance in London this summer.

Heffernan, the 2013 World champion over 50km, finished sixth in Rio, and was also awarded retrospective bronze from London 2012. He originally finished fourth, only to be upgraded early last year after Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin was disqualified for doping.

The Cork athlete had supported the petition, saying: “With the Olympic Games happening again in just over three years, and the work gone into building my academy and high performance structures in Cork, Athletics Ireland have to do everything in their power to make sure this does not happen.

Olympic cycle

“This profile of a 50km race walker can be so different to a 20km race walker, and this decision can end so many athletes’ careers who have already committed to this Olympic cycle. Let’s not allow this to happen.”

Fellow Irish walker Brendan Boyce, who also competed in Rio, had said he would be forced to quit the sport if the 50km distance was shelved.

Maurizio Damilano, Italy’s Olympic 20km champion in Moscow 1980 and head of the IAAF Race Walking Committee, was among those to make a passionate plea for the race’s survival.