President praises Heffernan's gold

President Michael D Higgins said all of Ireland will share in celebrations as Rob Heffernan won a gold medal at the world championships in Moscow.

Ireland’s first male world champion in 30 years took the top prize in the 50 kilometres race walk by beating the Russian favourite in his own backyard.

“All of us will share in this wonderful moment for Rob and his family,” said President Higgins.

“Rob came so close to success in the London Olympics and now, through hard work and dedication, he has achieved all that he deserves.”

Heffernan, 35, finished an agonising fourth at London 2012 last summer.

But following in the footsteps of heroes Eamonn Coghlan and Sonia O’Sullivan, he strode away from Russian home favourite Mikhail Ryzhov in the closing kilometres to win in a world-leading three hours 37 minutes 56 seconds.

Coghlan won the 5,000m in Helsinki in 1983, while O’Sullivan was Ireland’s last world champion, taking gold in 1995.

Sports minister Leo Varadkar said Heffernan turned in an outstanding performance

“It’s a huge achievement for Rob,” he said.

“After so many years competing at the very top level of international race walking, it is a just and most deserved reward for all his hard work and determination.”

Heffernan said: “I wanted to go to Moscow and take on the Russians in Moscow and that’s what I did.

“I’m very proud that an Irish man can come to Russia and beat them in walking.”

He went to Moscow in fine form and was considered a genuine medal hope for an Irish team, although few could have predicted gold.

In a composed morning run, he was with the leading pack at the halfway mark and, when one by one it was whittled down, he went toe-to-toe with Ryzhov.

Heffernan looked far fresher going into the final 5km, though, and was away and gone by the time he came into the Luzhniki Stadium, winning by 62secs.

“It’s surreal, it’s just a great feeling,” he said. “When I came into the stadium it just felt like an out of body experience. It’s hard to take it all in at the moment. I’m delighted.

“Coming into the stadium I felt as if I was watching myself on the outside, looking at myself on the big screen and thinking, ’This fella looks good’.”

Victory earned Heffernan his first major medal after years of near misses, including fourth-placed finishes over 20km and 50km at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

He added: “I knew I was motivated. People go on about medals, for the last 11 years I’ve been motivated and challenging for a medal. For some reason or other I hadn’t won one.

“I was prepared for everything coming into it. I stayed thoroughly motivated this year after London when a lot of people take their foot off the gas.

“I was very conscious of training hard and I had to be more motivated, because there was less hype for the World Champs. I was prepared for that mentally.”

Australia’s Jared Tallent took the bronze, with Heffernan’s compatriot Brendan Boyce finishing 25th in a new personal best of 3:54.24.