PARIS, Aug 23: Ecuador’s Jefferson Perez won the the men’s 20 km walk in a world best time on Saturday to secure the first gold medal on the opening day of the world athletics championships.

The 29-year-old, world silver medallist in 1999, beat the previous world best by one second to take victory in one hour, 17 minutes and 21 seconds on a cool, overcast morning.

Spain’s Francisco Fernandez, the European champion who had set a world best of 1:17.22 in Turku in April last year, took silver in 1:18.00 while Russia’s defending world champion Roman Rasskazov won bronze in 1:18.07.

Fernandez set a blistering pace for the first 15 km over a course comprising 10 circuits beginning and ending in the Stade de France stadium.

The 26-year-old, who failed to finish at the worlds in Edmonton two years ago, led Perez by 32 seconds at the halfway stage but paid the price for his fast start.

Perez, who became the youngest Olympic walking champion in 1996 and Ecuador’s first medallist at any sport, slowly wore the long-time leader down, passing the Spaniard inside the last four km to win by a clear margin.—Reuters