Athletes walk past Buckingham Palace as they compete in the men's 50-kilometer race walk, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Athletes walk past Buckingham Palace as they compete in the men's 50-kilometer race walk, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Athletes walk through a water mister as they compete in the men's 50-kilometer race walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
LONDON (AP) ? Sergei Kirdyapkin won the 50-kilometer walk at the London Games, breaking the Olympic record by more than a minute and giving Russia its first gold medal in the event in 20 years.
Kirdyapkin finished Saturday's race 54 seconds ahead of Jared Tallent of Australia, who took silver. Si Tianfeng of China was 1 minute, 17 seconds behind to win bronze in the event along the streets of central London.
Kirdyapkin took a commanding lead at the 45-kilometer mark and crossed the finish line near Buckingham Palace in 3 hours, 35 minutes, 59 seconds. He broke the Olympic record of 3:37:09 by 1 minute, 10 seconds. The mark was set by Alex Schwazer of Italy at the Beijing Games four years ago.
Schwazer had failed a doping test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency before arriving in London and was excluded from the Olympics. The 27-year-old athlete, who admitted to using the blood-boosting hormone EPO, was removed from the Italian team Monday. He said he felt immense pressure to defend his title in London.
Kirdyapkin won the world championships in 2005 and 2009. He failed to finish at the 2008 Beijing Games.
"Compared with Beijing, today it all went perfectly well," Kirdyapkin said. "It's the Olympic gold medal, so for me it's the most important."
His wife, Anisya Kirdyapkina, is competing in the 20K race walk later Saturday. She won bronze at the worlds in South Korea and finished second at the 2010 European championships.
"We'll all be supporting her all the way," Kirdyapkin said.
Russia last won the 50K walk at the 1992 Barcelona Games. With Schwazer out, the Russian walkers were the favorites to claim the gold.
World champion Sergei Bakulin, who was one of the medal favorites at the Olympics and led most of the race, finished sixth. Bakulin won gold at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, last year.
His Russian teammate and a medal favorite, Igor Erokhin was fifth.
Tallent's wife, Claire, also is competing in the 20K race and he said he hopes to be able to stand up when she reaches the podium.
"I will be cheering as loudly as I can," Tallent said. "Hopefully she can get up on the dais as well."
Tallent won silver in Beijing and took bronze at the worlds in South Korea last year.
He drew valuable lessons from the race at the worlds to clock his personal best of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 53 seconds Saturday.
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AP Sports writer John Pye contributed to this report.
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