LONDON, Aug 11: Sergey Kirdyapkin of Russia won gold in the 50km walk at the London Games, breaking the Olympic record by more than one minute.

Kirdyhapkin finished Saturday 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 gruelling race along the streets of central London.

Kirdyapkin took a commanding lead at the 45km 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.

“Around the 25-30km mark I hit the wall. I had to fight with myself but I found my second wind. If I didn’t have that small problem I would have done a better time,” said Kirdyapkin.

Kirdyapkin won the world championships in 2005 and 2009. He failed to finish the race at the 2008 Beijing Games.—AP