World champion, Olympic medallist, husband, father, and coach — for Rob Heffernan, there seems little left to accomplish, but the 39-year-old will nonetheless take to the start line in London tomorrow morning desperate for a medal in what will likely be his last hurrah as a race walker. Can he rescue a mediocre world championships for the Irish?

Nothing was going to derail Robert Heffernan’s goal of winning the world 50km race walk title yesterday — not even his own team-mate knocking him down while driving behind him on a 40km walk at a high altitude training camp in Ifrane, Morocco back in April.

Now firmly settled in its new home at the CIT track in Bishopstown, the Cork City Sports International meet captured the partisan crowd’s attention last night as Robert Heffernan clocked a new national record in the 3,000m race walk.