15 August,2013 01:06 AM IST | | IANS
It was the first major title for the 35-year-old Heffernan, the fourth finisher in London Olympics last summer as he clocked 3 hours, 37 minutes and 56 seconds to finish the longest race at the World Championships, reports Xinhua.
Robert Heffernan celebrates winning the 50km walk final yesterday. Pic/AFP
It was also the first World Championship medal won by an Irish male athlete in exactly 30 years after Eamonn Coghlan burst off the final bend to win the 5000m at the Helsinki Worlds on Aug 14, 1983.
India's Basanta Bahadur Rana finished 33rd. Rana was way down the field with 3:58.20, his season's best performance. Sandeep Kumar was disqualified.
