ATHLETICS/EUROPEANS:WE KNEW once the decisive break was made that Robert Heffernan probably wasn't going to win a medal. Still hopeful, perhaps, but in the one event where there is no such thing as a sprint finish, Heffernan was trapped in that loneliest of places. There was no escaping it, and that's where he finished – fourth.
No consolation that Heffernan was just 11 seconds away from bronze. In the 20km walk, you have to be in the medal hunt approaching the finish, or else it simply won’t happen – but there may yet be some consolation in Friday’s 50km walk.
Last night, after consulting with his masseur Liam O’Reilly and feeling no immediate ill-effects from his effort, Heffernan decided to declare for the longer distance, which he also qualified in this year when improving the Irish record to 3:50.08. If Heffernnan repeats that sort of time on Friday he won’t be too far off a medal there either.
For about three-quarters of yesterday’s race Heffernan did everything possible to maintain a medal position, but in the end just didn’t have the strength to hold onto it.
So as Stanislav Emelyanov drove on like a Russian tank to win gold, and Italy’s Alex Schwazer and Portugal’s Joao Vieira followed him home for silver and bronze, Heffernan was left to swallow the inevitable. So near, and yet so far.
“I gave it everything I could,” he said, and he did – having fired up the chase on Emelyanov in the earlier stages. “So I can’t have any regrets. Just very disappointed. For the last 5km I was thinking anything can happen, that I could still win a medal here.
“Someone could be disqualified. One of the boys could blow under the pressure. I was hoping too I would have an extra gear. But no. There’s nothing I could have done differently.
“It wasn’t terribly hot out there but it was still very energy sapping. At about 12km I felt like exploding and going, but didn’t. I had a plan in my head, to stay until 15km, but I’m just lacking that bit of power still. It’s encouraging I suppose for the future but still I’m just disappointed.”
We knew too it would have been an extraordinary start to these championships. A medal in the very first event. That shouldn’t take from what was still a brilliantly courageous and executed race from the 32-year-old from Cork, who has been knocking on the podium door for almost a decade now.
He may take some consolation in that fellow Irish walker Gillian O’Sullivan also finished fourth in the European Championships, in 2002, and the following year won silver at the World Championships – but truth is Heffernan may not get a better medal chance than he did here.
Indeed the early morning conditions weren’t bad, and the course – a tight 1km loop in the heart of old Barcelona – appeared to suit Heffernan.
It was only with a little over 5km to go that the gap first opened on the eventual medallists, and maybe on another day Heffernan might have closed it. Yet at only 19, Emelyanov looks like the new star of Russian race walking, and effectively soloed to victory in 1:20.10 having pulled clear early on. Schwazer, the Olympic champion over 50km, always looked composed to take second in 1:20.38, with the 34 year-old Vieira the only mild upset in claiming third in 1:20.49 – a season best, ahead of Heffernan’s 1:21.00
“There’s always a surprise factor for the medal,” agreed Heffernan, “and the Portuguese fella was the surprise today. But it’s the same every time with the Russians. Sure they just manufacture them over there. There’s always a new Russian there to take another fella’s place.”
Even at 32 Heffernan has been improving in recent years, and is sure to be competitive again at next year’s World Championships. But he’ll have to wait four years for another crack at the Europeans.
Although switching now to every two years (starting in 2012) the walks and marathons will still only be staged every four years, and that reality helps explain Heffernan’s deep disappointment.
With 2km to go Heffernan actually lapped Irish team-mate Jamie Costin, who roared some words of encouragement, before going on to finish 20th in 1:26.05.
Later, back in the Olympic Stadium, all three Irish entrants in the women’s 400 metres were eliminated in the first round. Michelle Carey was the best of them when running a season best of 57.58 to finish fifth in her heat; Brona Furlong was later seventh in 58.13; and Justine Kennedy finished eighth in her heat in 57.39.
But most disappointed on the opening day was long jumper Kelly Proper, who fouled all three of her qualifying efforts: “When you get to this level you really have to go for it,” she said, “But unfortunately I just narrowly hit the board each time, when I think I was in form to break the Irish record.”
Olive Loughnane is one of 11 Irish athletes in action today, when she looks to go at least one place better than Heffernan in the women’s 20 km walk – and we all know that is perfectly possible.
