Brian Pintado Secures Historic Gold for Ecuador in 20 km Race Walk at Paris Olympics

Brian Pintado of Ecuador triumphantly clinched the 20 km gold medal at the inaugural athletics event of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, clocking a remarkable time of 1:18:55. This victory marked a historic moment for Ecuador as Pintado became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics for the nation since Jefferson Perez's triumph in the 20 km walking race at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. Furthermore, this gold adds to Pintado's growing list of accolades, following his silver medal in the 35 km walk at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.

Brazil’s Caio Bonfim won the silver medal in 1:19:09 ahead of reigning world champion Alvaro Martin from Spain (1:19:11). Bonfim claimed the first ever Olympic medal for Brazil in race walking, achieving his best ever result at a global championship following his world bronze medals in London 2017 and Budapest 2023.  

Martin, double world champion in the 20 km and 35 km in Budapest 2023, won his first Olympic medal three years after finishing fourth in Tokyo. 

Massimo Stano, Olympic champion in Tokyo 2021, finished fourth in 1:19:12 missing the medal by just one second. Evan Dunfee from Canada, Olympic bronze medallist in the 50 km, crossed the finish-line in 1:19:16. Wakuma Misgana finished sixth setting the Ethiopian record with 1:19:31. Koki Ikeda, Olympic silver medallist in the 20 km in Tokyo 2021, took seventh place in 1:19:41. 

The race was delayed by 30 minutes by an early thunderstorm. The Olympic competition was held along the Pont de’lena bridge in the Trocadero area of Paris. 

China’s Zhang Jun led a large pack through the 5 km in 20:19. The pace picked up as Bonfim led the field through the 10 km mark in 40:21. Zhang and Pintado started to push the pace and the lead was whittled down to 16 athletes at 14 km. 

Pintado, Stano, Paul McGrath from Spain, Martin, Bonfim, and Japanese walkers Koki Ikeda and Yuta Koga stayed in the lead and went through the 16 km mark in 1.04:00. 

With three km to go a leading quartet formed by Pintado, Bonfim, Martin and Stano broke away from the rest of the field. Bonfim was just ahead of Pintado, but he just received a red card. 

Bonfim and Pintado exchanged the lead several times during the final two laps. Martin was in third place a few seconds ahead of Stano. 

Pintado made his move with two km to go pulling away from Bonfim and Martin and increased his pace over the final km. 

“It was insane. In the last few metres, I realised I was completely alone, and seeing the finish-line I just kept thinking: ‘I am the Olympic champion. It’s me. It has been tough to be away from my family, my wife, my kids for four months, and just seeing them through a screen, but they were with me throughout the race. I have a picture of them with me. I have a necklace of my son running beside me. I am wearing a scarf that my grandmother gave me. They with me all the time”, said Brian Pintado.

SEE THE RESULTS HERE

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