Heffernan dismay at poor showing

ROBERT HEFFERNAN was stunned after failing to make the top 10 in the men’s 20k walk at the world championships on Saturday.

Russia’s Olympic champion, Valeriy Borchin, won with ease in 1:18:41 while Hao Wang from China improved on his fourth placing in Beijing to take the silver medal with Eder Sanchez, the Mexican who set a new personal best for the 3,000m walk at Cork City Sports last month, finishing third in another pb of 1:19.22.

Heffernan was 15th in 1:22.09 and struggled to explain a disappointing performance after his sixth place in Osaka two years earlier and his eighth in Beijing last year.