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Race walker Elena Lashmanova wins Olympic gold medal

Lashmanova’s teammate Olga Kaniskina was hot favorite to win the Olympic title

LONDON, August 12 (Itar-Tass) — Twenty-year-old Elena Lashmanova of Russia has made a debut at the London 2012 Olympic Games by winning a gold medal in race walking. She covered a distance of 20 kilometers in one hour 25 minutes and 02 seconds, setting a world record, on Saturday.

Lashmanova’s teammate Olga Kaniskina was hot favorite to win the Olympic title. Kaniskina won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing four years ago. She’s three times world champion in race walking. Kaniskina took the leadership at the start of the race. However, Elena Lakhmanova speeded up in the last kilometers of the race and ultimately outdid Kaniskina.

Another Russian Anastasiya Kirdyapkina was fifth.