Athletics
PARIS 2024: Gathimba finishes 22nd despite season best in walk race
Samuel Gathimba during the race (C) NOC-K
By Michael Kirwa |
Gathimba registered his season best but the race was brutally fast and he placed 22nd
Samuel Gathimba, Kenya's sole representative in the men's 20 kilometre race walk at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games put up a brave fight in challenging weather conditions to finish 22nd with a time of 1:21:26 in an event that marked the start of the athletics program at the 33rd Olympics.
Gathimba's time would have been good enough for a bronze medal at the last Olympics but in this year's brutally fast race, he takes satisfaction in being able to complete the race with a season best. At his last appearance at the Olympic Games, in Rio 2016, Gathimba failed to finish the race.
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A season’s best for Samuel Gathimba.👋🏼
— TeamKenya (@OlympicsKe) August 1, 2024
From a cold rainy weather to the hot sun, the first day of August has seen us missed a podium place but secure a season’s best for our African Games Champion.🇰🇪
We live to fight another day.#TeamKenya#HesabikaNaMabingwa pic.twitter.com/0pcUQgFyDb
Brian Daniel Pintado, 29, of Ecuador won the race with a time of 1:18:55, emulating his compatriot Jefferson Perez who won Ecuador's first ever Olympic gold medal in the event at Atlanta 1996.
Pintado's winning time was the fastest at the Olympic Games since the Chinese Chen Ding won gold in London 2012 with a time of 1:18:46.
The top two was a South American affair as 33-year old Caio Bonfim of Brazil, a bronze medalist in the event at the 2017 and 2023 World Athletics Championships, finished second with a time of 1:19:09.
Finishing two seconds behind Bonfim with a time of 1:09:11, 30-year old Alvaro Martin of Spain scooped the bronze medal.
Martin, who is the reigning world champion, finished one second ahead of the Italian Massimo Stano, who had gone into the race as the reigning Olympic champion having won the gold medal in the event at Tokyo 2020.
Stano, who was aiming to become the first athlete to win the gold medal in the men's 20 km race walk at two consecutive Olympic Games fell short, finishing the race with a time of 1:09:12.
20-year old Ethiopian, Misgana Wakuma, gave a good account of himself, enhancing his status as the African champion with a 6th place finish after clocking 1:19:31. Wakuma's time is a Ethiopian national record in the event.
Canadian Evan Dunfee was fifth with a time of 1:19:16.
Gathimba's time was an improvement of his season best, 1:28:06, which he clocked when he finished second in the All Africa Games held in Ghana in March.
The result is also sure to see him improve world ranking from the current 84th.
The race, initially scheduled to start at 8:30 am EAT, was delayed by 30 minutes due to a thunderstorm.
However, the bad weather did not prevent the athletes from contesting the fastest men's 20 kilometre race walk in the recent history of the Olympics Games as 11 eleven athletes went below 1:20. There were none at Tokyo 2020, where Stano won the race with a time of 1:21:05. With that time in this year's race, Stano would have ranked 21st.
Rio 2016 had five athletes registering sub 1:20 times while, London 2012, the fastest race before this year's edition, had six athletes going below 1:20.
The race, in every way, was brutal.
Pre-race favourites like the Japanese Koki Ikeda, who had the year's best time, 1:16:51, found the going tough and finished in 7th place, a downgrade from his silver medal on home soil at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Chinese Jun Zhang, who has the year's second fastest time, 1:17:26, finished 10th with a time 1:19:56.
The Swede Perseus Karlström, a silver medalist at the 2023 World Athletics Championship, fared even more worse, finishing 21st with a time of 1:21:05.
Gathimba, a three-time African champion, initially proved his growing pedigree as he battled to remain in contention of medal for a greater part of the race, always giving hope of him finishing in a higher position than his performance at the 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest where he finished 9th with an impressive time of 1:18:34.
That finish in Budapest put Gathimba in race-walking history, as it marked the first time that 18 athletes had gone under 1:20 at the World Championships.
However, such heroics were not to be repeated in Paris despite his best efforts.
At first buoyed by his display in Budapest, the Nyeri-born 36-year old racewalker remained stuck with the chasing pack until as eight athletes exchanged the lead in the first 11 kilometres until Jun Zhang of China tried to break away with the sole intent of rushing to win the first of the 48 gold medals that are up for grabs under the athletics program at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Throughout out that competitive exchange of the lead, Gathimba, though not ranking higher than 10th until after the 13th kiometre, did his best to remain one second behind the leader from the 8th kilometre to the 14-kilometre. In every way, it was a gallant effort by Gathimba that deserved applause.
Zhang was the first athlete to lead the race for two kilometres, taking the lead at the 12th and 13th kilometre mark.
On both occasions, a determined Gathimba showed promise of replicating, or bettering his performance in Budapest, as he remained one second behind the Chinese, ranking 14th and 10th respectively.
However, Zhang lost momentum heading to the 14th kilometre mark, surrendering the lead to Ecuadorian Pintado, who crossed that mark first with a time of 56:15.
A persistent Gathimba was still one second behind at that stage but having dropped to 11th.
From there on, with glory beckoning and the next day's headlines written in the minds of the most eager athletes, the race's pace increased and it became too much for Gathimba to keep up with.
At the 15 kilometre mark, Gathimba had dropped to 14th, and trailed the leader at theag stage, reigning Olympic champion Massimo Stano of Italy, by six seconds. It was the biggest between Gathimba and the leader since the first kilometre when he trailed Caio Bonfim, who had threatened a breakaway in the first 1 000 metres, by eight seconds
After that, there was no way back in the race for Gathimba, as the medal-chasing quartet comprising Bonfim, Martin, Pintado, and Stano pulled further away.
The competition between the four got more brutal after the 18 kilometre mark, with Pintado, Bonfim, and Martin pulling further away as Olympic champion Stano trailed them by four seconds at the bell when they crossed the 19-kilometre mark.
After the bell, Pintado made a go for it, increasing his pace to leave Bonfim and Martin fighting for silver.
The Ecuadorian, unchallenged, went on to win Ecuador's first gold medal at Paris 2024.
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