WCH Tokyo 25 brushstroke (© World Athletics)
Quotes from bronze medallist Hayato Katsuki (JPN) and his coach at a press conference after the men’s 35km race walk at National Stadium on Saturday.
Hayato Katsuki - bronze medallist
On winning a medal in front of the home fans:
“I did the Tokyo Olympics but have not made an Olympic or world championships team since then. Now I am here. This time the crowd could cheer and we could hear.
“Tokyo wanted to make sure to show how exciting the race walk could be. I ran an exciting race. This is the start of raising excitement about race walk in Japan.”
On training for the championships:
“I was confident I could be selected for these championships so I didn't go to a cooler place to train. I worked without any water or ice during training. I started testing how far I could go without water. My counter-heat measures were better than the other athletes and I think that was a big advantage.
“I do not have an expert coach. I have a supportive coach who is dedicated to me. I coached myself, including my mental preparation. Sometimes we go to other places to train but I think home is where I do best.”
On what motivated him:
“There were Japanese voices saying: ‘Go Katsuki, we believe in you.’ And that made me finish my race. I was the oldest when selected as a team member, so I felt I needed to be the one to lead the race.”
On the conditions:
“To be honest, I wasn’t really prepared for the humidity but this is something I deal with. I expected my pace would drop but I was able to accelerate. I couldn't drop my pace any more. I wanted to save my strength to use at the end. I wanted the gold medal and then I saw (Evan) Dunfee (CAN) passing by.
“I thought in order to get a medal maybe I should change the pace and make the pack smaller. It was a tactic.”
Tanii Takayuki - coach
On the race:
“The humidity was very high and the other athletes began to feel the heat. All of them could get medals, so it was really a survival race. Some were dehydrated and lost speed.
“Of course, getting the gold medal was his (Katsuki’s) ambition, but he secured the bronze. He had prepared very well for the heat and tried to be resilient.”
On Katsuki’s training:
“Not everything went well all the time. He will learn from that and improve. Katsuki did altitude training in July and August in a very hot area. He accumulated fatigue and resilience for the heat of August, that was his strategy.
“When we were warming up we measured the humidity and it was 80%. Just a small movement of your body created sweat. We had to use ice because of the body heat.
“When the temperature began to rise towards the end, that was what caused fatigue.”
On the performance of Japanese walkers overall:
“In Budapest and Oregon, Japanese walkers got medals so the Japanese team was under pressure. But all of them did their best; all of them finished the race.”
