Dawid Tomala sensationally became the Olympic champion in the 50 km walk. He won the competition in Sapporo. The early start time and the fact that the competition was held far north of Tokyo was supposed to make it easier to fight for medals in hot conditions. The Pole was not among the favorites. It was only this year that he covered the distance of 50 kilometers for the first time.
Dawid Tomala stated to the official Olympic media after winning the surprise Olympic championship. As he admitted, this is only his second career completed walk at the royal distance of 50 km:
“It was an amazing day for me. I can’t believe it. I’ve worked for this kind of success all my life. I was 15 when I went to my first training and even then I dreamed of becoming an Olympic gold medalist. I originally wanted to achieve this over a 20km distance, but this year changed everything. I started in Dudinka for 50 km. This was only my second appearance at this distance. And now I’ve won the Olympic championship. It’s crazy, isn’t it?” said our gold medalist.
He also revealed why he decided to change the distance from 20 to 50 km: “I was bored (laughs). I needed a new challenge. I had been focused for years on the 20km, but I needed something new, something special. I thought a new, longer distance would be a good option and now I know it is. Why 50km? Because we have the best race walker in history, Robert Korzeniowski. He is a legend and now I have written my part of this history,” stressed Dawid Tomala.
He said briefly about the competition in Sapporo:
“The initial 30 km were very easy for me. As easy as a slow workout. Everything was great, too perfect. I began to think that maybe something could be done,” concluded the Olympic champion.