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BEIJING : Walker Valeriy Borchin held off former champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador on Saturday to hand Russia its first athletics gold of the Beijing Olympics.
Borchin won the men's 20 kilometres race walk in one hour, 19 minutes and 01 seconds for Russia's first-ever Olympic walking success.
The 22-year-old, who served a one-year drugs ban in the 2005/06 season, beat home 1996 Olympic champion Perez by 14 seconds, with Australian Jared Tallent a further 27 seconds adrift in the bronze medal position.
"I never expected to win this medal," said Borchin, who opened up the decisive gap over Perez with two kilometres to go.
"At the beginning, I was lagging behind. I feel my dream has come true."
In the women's heptathlon, Ukraine's Natalia Dobrynska retook the overall lead after the fifth of the seven disciplines, the long jump.
Only the javelin throw and the 800m remain.
Dobrynska's leap of 6.63 metres for 1049 points took her total to 5,045 points, 16 ahead of overnight leader Hyleas Fountain of the United States, whose best jump was measured at 6.38m.
Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska drew level with Russian Anna Bogdanova in third place on 4,913 points, but it was not a good morning's work for Britain's Kelly Sotherton.
The pre-event favourite dropped two places to fifth after a poor jump of 6.33m in her strongest event - with her weakest, the javelin throw, to come.
The women's 100m saw no surprises as the main favourites all progressed to the second round of heats later Saturday.
Among the 40 runners advancing were the American trio of Torri Edwards, Athens silver medallist Lauryn Williams and Muna Lee, as well as Jamaican stars Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, all expected to challenge for gold.
The first round of the women's 400m also went as expected, with British world champion Christine Ohuruogu, compatriot Nicola Sanders and American Sanya Richards qualifying with ease.
"That was very good, I was really strong," said Richards, who has been battling against the debilitating and rare Behcets disease over the last year.
"No signs of the illness, I'm feeling great," she said.
In the field, women's shot put favourites Valerie Vili of New Zealand and Belarussian Nadzeya Ostapchuk both qualified for the final later Saturday with their first efforts.
Chinese pair Gong Lijiao and Li Meiju recorded the second and third-best first round efforts, both setting personal bests and lining up what should be a close-fought final.
Russian world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva took just one effort at 4.60m, 44cm off her record, to qualify for Monday's pole vault final when she will be pushed to have any rivals who come close to her exacting standards.
"There was no problem in waiting around for a long time to vault," said Isinbayeva. "My goal was to qualify as easily as possible."
Other finals on Saturday, the second day of competition at the National Stadium, include the men's 100m sprint.
There are also heats in the women's 400m, as well as semi-finals in the women's 800m and men's 400m hurdles. - AFP/vm/ms
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