Heffernan lays Beijing intent on the record

ROBERT HEFFERNAN launched his Olympic year with a sensational new national record for the 5k walk at the Woodies DIY Indoor Championships of Ireland at the Odyssey Arena at the weekend.

It is almost a year since the Togher walker posted his qualifying standard for Beijing at a meet in China and since then he has been consistently inside the mark — ending his season with a spectacular sixth placing at last year’s world championships in Osaka.

That was always going to be difficult to repeat but he showed that he has certainly built on it by walking a second-and-a-half inside the old record to retain his title, in 18:51.46.