The first medal of the 2002 European Championships has gone to Spain’s Francisco Fernandez who ran away with the 20km walk around the streets of Munich early this evening.
Fernandez hit the front early and when he made his decisive break, none of his rivals were able to respond allowing him to build a handsome lead that was never threatened.
Given the fine results of Irish race walkers in recent seasons, Cork’s Robert Heffernan had come into the event harbouring realistic medal aspirations but was unable to counter the break of Fernandez and eventually finished eighth.
Earlier this evening, UCD’s James Nolan failed in his bid to reach the 1500 metres final when coming home in eighth position in his heat.
Nolan had appeared comfortable and in position to claim one of the qualifying spots as he approached the bell but when the pace quickened he was found wanting and trailed home in eighth spot with a time of 3 minutes, 48:48 seconds, some way off the quickest he has run this year.