Sergey Kirdyapkin of Russia on his way to his second 50km Race Walk World Championship title (© Getty Images)
Sergey Kirdyapkin regained the title he won four years ago with a dominating performance, while several of the other pre-race favourites struggled to finish.
The morning started with a heavy downpour of rain, but the race walkers no doubt preferred these conditions compared to the warm and humid days we have witnessed for most of this championships.
Japan's Yuki Yamazaki shot to the front and after just one minute had built up as much of a lead as is possible for a race walker. It was not long before he received his first warning and by the end of the first 2km loop, he was joined by Australia's Luke Adams.
As they passed through the second of the 25 laps, their lead over the chasing pack - a group that included European champion Yohan Diniz, Olympic champion Alex Schwazer and double Olympic medallist Jared Tallent - had grown to 10 seconds. But it was still early days.
Soon after going through 5km in 22:11, Yamazaki finally surrendered his lead to Adams, and after 8km Tallent and Diniz broke away from the chasing pack to join the leaders as the leading pack had suddenly grown to 10-strong.
Jesus Angel Garcia of Spain, Horacio Nava of Mexico, Norway's Trond Nymark and Russian duo Denis Nizhegorodov and Sergey Kirdyapkin teamed up with the aforementioned Schwazer, Diniz, Tallent, Yamazaki and Adams as they went through 10km in 44:34. All the big favourites were still in contention.
After an hour of walking the two leading Russians, Nizhegorodov and Kirdyapkin, headed the leading pack with the two Australians, Tallent and Adams, a stride behind. Yamazaki and Diniz were still holding on, while Nymark and Nava were a few seconds behind, but Schwazer and Garcia had begun to lose contact. The pack went through 15km in 1:06:25.
Italy's Schwazer then clawed back the deficit and eased towards the leaders. But not long after going through 15km with the leaders in 1:28:25, Schwazer fell back again. The lead pack now comprised of the two Australians, the two Russians, Yamazaki and Diniz.
Just before the half-way mark, Yamazaki received his third and final warning and was disqualified, leaving just five men at the front. Moments later, Schwazer stepped off the course as Italy's best hope of a gold medal here in Berlin disappeared.
The lead pack clocked 1:50:08 at half way. Tallent and Adams continued to lead the Russians through 30km (2:11:36), 35km (2:33:07) and 40km (2:55:24). But all of a sudden some of the early leaders began to struggle.
Nizhegorodov stepped off the course, and Diniz had also started to fade back down the field. Adams was also going through a rough patch. All the while, Nymark was making up ground on the leaders and Kirdyapkin had broken clear of Tallent. The race had come alive.
After three hours of walking, Nymark passed Tallent to move into the silver medal position. Despite the Norwegian's late burst, he could not quite do enough to make an impact on Kirdyapkin, however.
The Russian, who won the World title four years ago in Helsinki was away and clear. Reaching 45km in 3:16:58, some 58 seconds ahead of Nymark, gold was almost certain for Kirdyapkin, who has keen to do well after his wife, Anisya Kirdyapkina, had missed out on the medals in the women's 20km walk.
The bell sounded for the final 2km circuit as Kirdyapkin went through in 3:29:47. The cheers grew louder as the 29-year-old walked closer to his goal.
Kirdyapkin, who failed to finish at both the last World Championships and last year's Olympic Games, breasted the tape in a world-leading 3:38:35 and then collapsed on the ground. It was his second best clocking, just 27 seconds slower than the time he walked to win in Helsinki four years ago. He also had a massive winning margin of two minutes and 41 seconds.
Nymark held on for silver with a national record of 3:41:16, while Spain's Garcia closed magnificently in the final stages to take bronze in 3:41:37.
After suffering mid-race, Adams had recovered well and overtaken Tallent as the leading Australian in the race. But he could not quite catch Grzegorz Sudol of Poland - a surprise fourth in a PB of 3:42:34 - and home hope Andre Hohne, who also set a PB of 3:43:19.
Adams was rewarded with a PB of 3:43:39 - a performance that clearly took every ounce of energy he had, as he too collapsed on the ground afterwards. Tallent came in just over one minute later with a time of 3:44:50.
Marco de Luca was surprisingly the best Italian on the day, setting a PB of 3:46:31 in eighth, while Finland's Jarkko Kinnunen also set a PB in ninth (3:47:36). Slovakia's Matej Toth, one of the fastest men in the world this year, was some way off his best in 10th (3:48:35).
Diniz managed to complete the race, but his 12th-place finish in 3:49:03 was something of a disappointment, having been one of the medal favourites before the race.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
