MESDAMES ET MESSIEURS, check out Paris tour books handily available at kiosks in every arrondissement of the French capital, and they’ll tell you that the Trocadero area — at the base of the Eiffel Tower and its Champ-de-Mars and Palais de Chaillot — is “a great place for exploring and relaxing on a lazy day.”
But don’t tell that to Ecuador’s Daniel Pintado, who’ll never consider racewalking 20 kilometers (12.4M) at 6:30ish mile pace as a great way of exploring and relaxing on a lazy day.
Wearing his age, 29, as his bib number, Pintado brought great joy to Cuenca (his hometown), Quito, Guayaquil — and maybe even to the Galapagos. His late rush carried him to a 1:18:55 victory in the first event of the track & field phase of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
The muggy-day race started a half-hour late (8 am) once threatened thunderstorms abated. It was the 18th edition of the Olympic 20K and no one has ever won two straight.
Chased by 48 over the 20 circuits of the L-shaped loop back and forth over the Pont De Leon, often with tourist “bateaux mouches” passing underneath, the 5-6 (1.68) Pintado all at once brought the gold back to the nation oft-famed for its silver riches.
Just once before had an Ecuadorian athlete struck gold at the Games, any sport, any discipline, and that was Jefferson Pérez’s 1:20:07 in this same event at Atlanta in ’96.
Pintado called the final meters of the race “insane,” saying, “When I realized I was completely alone and seeing the finish line, I just kept thinking, ‘I’m the Olympic champion, it’s me.’ I have competed in three Olympic Games (placing 37th in ’16 and 20th in ’21) and this was a dream come true.”
He did it for his fellow Ecuadorians — and his family, carrying photos of son Nicolas and daughter Montserrath in his waistband: “They were with me throughout the race.”
Scenic as the storied backdrops surely were, this was no walk in the park. Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, who did much of the early pace-walking, claimed 2nd in 1:19:09 and thus marked the first 1–2 finish for South America.
Budapest23 world champion Álvaro Martín of Spain took the bronze in 1:19:11. And right on his heels, just a second behind, was defending Oly champion Massimo Stano of Italy.
Jun Zhang of China sped to an early lead with a 20:19 opening 5K. And then the pace quickened. Over two dozen were still bunched as Bonfim led at midway in 40:21. By 16K, 7 were still in virtual lockstep at 1:04 flat. Not until the final K did Pintado break clear.
The pre-race formchart took a beating. Morning-line choice Perseus Karlström walked with the lead pack much of the way before fading all the way back to 21st. After a modest start, silver-medal pick Evan Dunfee worked up to 5th place. World leader and third-fastest all-timer Koki Ikeda of Japan was 7th in 1:19:41.
And where was Team USA? Back home, with no qualifiers at all. The 20K remains the lone men’s Olympic event lacking an all-time American medalist. The glory days of Rudy Haluza (4th in ’68) and Ron Zinn (6th in ’64) are ancient history.
MEN’S 20K WALK RESULTS
(August 01)
(temperature 68-72F/20-22C; humidity 92-90%)
1. Daniel Pintado (Ecu) 1:18:55 (20:20, 20:02 [40:22], 19:47 [1:00:09], 18:46) (40:22/38:33);
2. Caio Bonfim (Bra) 1:19:09 (40:21/39:08);
3. Álvaro Martín (Spa) 1:19:11 (40:21/39:50);
4. Massimo Stano (Ita) 1:19:12 (40:21/39:51);
5. Evan Dunfee (Can) 1:19:16 (40:22/38:54);
6. Misganaw Wakuma (Eth) 1:19:31 (40:22/39:09);
7. Koki Ikeda (Jpn) 1:19:41 (40:22/39:19);
8. Yuta Koga (Jpn) 1:19:50 (40:22/39:28);
9. Aurelien Quinion (Fra) 1:19:56 PR; 10. Jun Zhang (Chn) 1:19:56; 11. Declan Tingay (Aus) 1:19:56; 12. Rhydian Cowley (Aus) 1:20:04; 13. Noel Ali Chama (Mex) 1:20:19; 14. Ricardo Ortiz (Mex) 1:20:27; 15. David Hurtado (Ecu) 1:20:30; 16. Callum Wilkinson (GB) 1:20:31; 17. Paul McGrath (Spa) 1:20:32; 18. Ryo Hamanishi (Jpn) 1:20:33; 19. Christopher Linke (Ger) 1:20:35; 20. Francesco Fortunato (Ita) 1:20:38; 21. Perseus Karlström (Swe) 1:21:05; 22. Samuel Gathimba (Ken) 1:21:26; 23. Leo Köpp (Ger) 1:21:36; 24. Gabriel Bordier (Fra) 1:21:40; 25. Jordy Jiménez (Ecu) 1:21:44;
26. Luis Campos (Per) 1:22:00; 27. Artur Brzozowski (Pol) 1:22:11; 28. Max Batista Dos Santos (Bra) 1:22:16; 29. Maher Ben Hlima (Pol) 1:22:34; 30. Vikash Singh (Ind) 1:22:36; 31. Yandong Li (Chn) 1:22:46; 32. Veli-Matti Partanen (Fin) 1:22:56; 33. Diego García (Spa) 1:23:10; 34. Dominik Černý (Svk) 1:23:25; 35. Kyle Swan (Aus) 1:23:32; 36. Zhaozhao Wang (Chn) 1:23:40; 37. Paramjeet Singh Bisht (Ind) 1:23:48; 38. José Alejandro Barrondo (Gua) 1:24:17; 39. Matheus Gabriel Correa (Bra) 1:24:25; 40. Ihor Hlavan (Ukr) 1:24:52; 41. Riccardo Orsoni (Ita) 1:25:08; 42. Byeong-Kwang Choe (SK) 1:26:15; 43. Erick Barrondo (Gua) 1:26:19; 44. Máté Helebrandt (Hun) 1:27:17; 45. Salih Korkmaz (Tur) 1:29:05; 46. Bence Venyercsán (Hun) 1:29:14; … dq—José Luis Doctor (Mex);… dnf—Akashdeep Singh (Ind), César Augusto Rodríguez (Per).
(5K leader splits: Zhang 20:19, Bonfim 40:21, Stano 1:00:09)
