Heffernan: I gave it everything

ROBERT HEFFERNAN had mixed emotions after missing out on a medal by 11 seconds at the European Championships in Barcelona yesterday.

The men’s 20k walk was won by Russian Stanislav Emelyanov, the world 10k junior champion, in 80mins 10secs from Olympic 50k champion Alex Schwazer (Italy) (80:38) and Joao Vieira (Portugal), 80:49.

Heffernan, who finished fourth in 81mins, always had the latter two in his sights and there were brief moments when it appeared as if he might haul them back.

The Corkman was philosophical in the aftermath. “I’ve no regrets. I could not have done more. I am still just lacking that bit of power. It’s my best position. The reason I was disappointed last year in Berlin was because my head was all over the place but the most important thing to me is that I competed and it doesn’t matter what position you find yourself in, whether it’s a medal or 10th if you are competitive.”

But he admitted: “I gave it everything and I was still beaten so for me that’s very disappointing.”

The Togher athlete did everything to plan. He hung back at the top of the main field when the young Russian, Schwazer and Silviu Casandra (Romania), made an early escape and opened up a 10 seconds lead inside the first kilometre.

Heffernan, the 2004 Olympic champion Ivano Brugnetti (Italy) who would later walk off the course exhausted, and another Italian, Giorgio Rubino, kept the pack together and kept the leaders in their sights.

At 7k Heffernan and the two Italians pushed forward on the lead group. They mopped up Casandra and caught Schwazer to create a chasing group which included Brugnetti, Giorgio Rubino, Heffernan, Belarussian Denis Simanovich, Russian Andrey Krivov, Vieira and Dzianis Simanovich of Belarus. At 10k they were eight seconds adrift of the leader (40.14).

All three Italians now went to the front of the chasing group but Brugnetti walked off the course, others disappeared out the back and suddenly there were just three doing the chasing, Schwazer, Vieira and Heffernan.

Vieira pulled clear, Schwazer chased him down and the stage was set for the finish with the Italian the stronger of the two and Heffernan adrift in fourth place.

“Between eight and 12k everyone was keeping their cards close to their chests,” Heffernan recalled. “At 8k I felt tired but in my head I had planned to go in 5k increments. At 11 or 12k I felt like exploding and going but I had it planned in my head to go at 15k. At 13km that’s when they went and I said ‘settle, settle, wait for 15km’. By 15k, however, the race had taken shape. Heffernan was 11 seconds behind the two chasers and that margin would never change.

“The gap wasn’t opening or closing,” Heffernan said. “I was thinking I could still win a medal — someone could get disqualified or one of the boys could blow under the pressure. I was hoping I’d have an extra gear. It’s not that the boys were faster — it’s almost an attrition thing. There’s always a surprise factor for a medal and the guy from Portugal was the surprise. It’s the same every time with the Russians — they just manufacture them, there’s always a Russian there to take another fella’s place. ”

Jamie Costin, who was overtaken by Heffernan going into the last lap, ended up 20th in 86:05.