PARIS - 27th August 2003, special to Irish Runner.com by Dave Mervyn
To be a world-class race walker, there seriously has to be something wrong with you. Especially a 50km walker prepared to indulge in waddling for close to four hours in a foreign city. Yet walking has become fashionable in Ireland; it's the new black, or the new soccer in Waterford, as 26-year-old Jamie Costin rivals Manchester United starlet John O'Shea in the west of the county for popularity.
Who is the only Irish senior male to set a new outdoor national record in 2003? The country's top-ranked male athlete this year at 21st in the world? Not that it seems to matter to the sporting masses, but it's West Waterford AC's Costin. Coached by Pierce O'Callaghan of the AAI, Costin goes in this morning's arduous 50km final as fifteenth ranked of 39 starters on this season's form. Add the experience of 50km finals at Sydney 2000, Edmonton 2001 and Munich 2002 and Costin will have a real chance to better his national record, set at the Naumburg meet in Germany this year, if he can stay clear of possible disqualification.
He took five minutes off his PB in Naumburg and should he manage something similar on the streets of Paris, he'll be challenging for a top ten finish.
Likely winners look to be either Spain's Mikel Odriozola (3:42), Russians Skurygin and 23-year-old Nizhegorodov, or double Olympic winner in 2000, Robert Korzeniowski of Poland.
For the record, here are Costin's splits from the last World Championships in Edmonton:
5 km: 23.45;
10 km: 47.33;
15 km: 1.11.10;
20 km: 1.34.49;
25 km: 1.58.32;
30 km: 2.22.07;
35 km: 2.22.07;
40 km: 2.45.51;
45 km: 3.39.24;
50 km: 4.11.58.
