Australian three-time Olympic medallist Jared Tallent won bronze on Saturday in the men's 50km walk at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in China.
With his third consecutive medal over the distance at the world racewalking cup, Tallent has won seven medals back-to-back at every major championship since claiming gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
"It was a quick race and my race went to plan at the start. I went out with the Russians and made a move at about 15kms to push the pace up but they were too strong in the closing stages.
"Honestly, I am a little disappointed to not win the gold ... but to know that I could hold on to the bronze position pretty comfortably in those closing stages is a big positive to take away from today.
"It can be really tough when you are the only man not in red, white and blue in the lead pack."
Tallent pushed the pace and went to the front from the start alongside Russian world championships silver medallist Mikhail Rhyzov (gold, 3:39:05.
Fellow Russian Ivan Noskov (silver, 3:39:38) joined them and they shared the lead through the first 10kms before being joined by Yury Andronov (Russia, 4th, 3:43:52).
Tallent took an almost 50-metre lead from the Russian contingent and came through the 16km mark as a clear leader in 1:10:53. He held on until the 20km split, when Rhyzov and Noskov joined him.
Heading through the halfway mark in 1:50:33, the trio battled it out until shortly before the 30km split when the Russian pair surged away.
Victorian Chris Erickson - 16th at last year's world championships - delivered his strongest international result outside of the Commonwealth Games over 50km, crossing 11th in 3:49:33 in his build-up for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"I'm continuing to chip away at my time and that's great. I have walked PBs in both the 20km and 50km event this year and it's good to know that I am continuing to improve each time I race at a major.
"I wanted to hold on to the top-10 position that I had coming into the last couple of laps but, unfortunately, I got swamped by a couple of Ukrainians.
"Rio has always been the main aim and I want to finish top-eight there. I think I am tracking towards that still."
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