London: India’s Basanta Bahadur Rana finished 36th in the men’s 50 km race walk of the Olympic Games with a national record timing of 3 hrs 56 minutes and 48 seconds here on Saturday.
The 28-year-old Indian walker was no match for his much stronger opponents, but did well to improve upon his personal best and season best timing of 4:02:13 under bright and sunny conditions.
Rana initially started off well, but gradually kept lagging behind as the race went on.
At one time, he had slipped to 46th position, but managed to ultimately take the 36th spot in the gruelling race.
Sergey Kirdyapkin of Russia clinched the coveted gold medal by setting a new Olympic record as he finished with a timing of 3:35:59, while the silver medal went to Australia’s Jared Tallent who recorded a personal best timing of 3:36:53. Tianfeng Si of China also recorded a personal best timing of 3:37:16 to bag the bronze medal.
The walking race is known for the unusual gait practised by the participants, who have to go as fast as they can while keeping at least one foot on the ground at all times.
Apart from the Olympic record, as many as 11 walkers registered personal best timings, while eight of them managed season best timings. (PTI)