Deakes leads home local trio of Walkers

It seems it’s not just the girls in the pool dominating the medal dais, as Australian walker Nathan Deakes led home another trio of locals in the men's 20km walk this afternoon in Melbourne.

Following on from the Saville sisters’ triumph earlier in the day, reigning Commonwealth champion Deakes wasn’t about to be upstaged, defending his title with a comfortable victory in front of his home fans.

“I’m a Melbournian at heart, and with the absolutely fabulous support- an Aussie trifecta in the women’s and men’s- we couldn’t have scripted it better and obviously me getting the gold,” he said.

The 28-year-old Victorian showed a clean pair of heels at the start and led all the way to win in 1hr 19min and 55sec, slicing five minutes and 40 seconds off his own previous Games record.

Fellow Aussie Luke Adams, the silver medallist in Manchester, repeated his feat of four years ago, finishing just over one and a half minutes behind Deakes, while 21-year-old Ballarat local Jared Tallent took the bronze, one minute and 54 seconds further adrift. All three Australians posted times well under Deakes’ 2002 Games record.

Deakes will now have just four days to recover before competing in the intimidating 50km walk, a difficult task but one the Athens Olympics bronze medallist is looking forward to.

“Four days isn’t long and 50km is a pretty daunting, but I’m pretty optimistic about my chances.

Related Article:

Saville's Golden Walk (Mon Mar 20)

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