Rob Heffernan admits he fell apart mentally before pulling up

In the end it wasn’t the physical challenge which broke Rob Heffernan’s medal hopes at the European Championship 50km walk, but the mental one. Cut adrift early on, then struggling for a long time back in sixth, Heffernan eventually dropped out just after the 40km mark – accepting, reluctantly, that his medal hopes were utterly shot.

So, while defending champion Yohann Diniz from France, who at 36 is actually a few months older than Heffernan, produced the greatest 50km walk in history – smashing the world record with a truly stunning three hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds – Heffernan was left wondering what might have been.

What is certain is that he made no excuses, and that the hunger and ambition which drove him towards the World Championship gold medal in Moscow last summer just wasn’t at the same level where it needed to be.

“I was smiling a bit all right, early on, thinking they’ve definitely gone off too fast,” he said, and for a while it looked as if Diniz would certainly pay a high price for his relentless pace. “Then around 25k I realised Diniz was getting stronger and stronger, and probably wasn’t going to come back.

“And when I realised I just wasn’t going to pull them back it just fell apart, genuinely fell apart. Mentally, I was gone, because when first and then second were gone from me, I just didn’t want third, or fourth. I came here to win, and that just wasn’t to be.

“Of course that is very disappointing, and I don’t have any excuses. I actually stopped for the first time at 36k. Then Marian (his wife) just told me to get on the road again, that I had to finish. I tried again, for as long as I got, but I was just broken. Nothing was happening for me. I wanted to win. I didn’t want to finish sixth.

“But look, I always said I’d continue on from here, for Rio, good, bad or indifferent. So we’ll see.”

All the leading times were exceptionally quick, Matej Toth setting a Slovakian record of 3:36.21 in second, with the Russian Ivan Noskov setting a personal best of 3:37.41 in third.

Diniz was in a class of his own, however, his 3:32.33 shattering the world record of 3:34.14 which had stood to the Russian Denis Nizhegorodov since 2008.

The fast pace helped Brendan Boyce set a new personal best of 3:51.54 to finish in 16th position. The effort took its toll on the Donegal walker on the line, as it did with many of the those who finished, but the 27-year-old later told of his delight at shaving two minutes and 50 seconds off his own PB.

There was also good news for the Irish team back inside the Letzigrund Stadium, where both Ciarán Ó Lionáird and Paul Robinson booked their place in the Sunday's 1,500 metres final.

Robinson went through as an automatic qualifier, finishing fourth in his heat in 3:39.83, while Ó Lionáird also went through as one of the fastest losers, his 3:39.79 in the first heat, when finishing second, marginally faster.