Turkish athlete ranks 5th in world race walk

ANKARA

Turkish male athlete Salih Korkmaz ranked fifth in world 20 kilometers race walk in the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships late Friday.

Korkmaz completed the track with a time of one hour, 27 minutes and 35 seconds in the Doha 2019 final.

Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi won the gold medal, completing the 20 kilometer track in one hour, 26 minutes and 34 seconds.

A neutral athlete, Vasiliy Mizinov earned a silver medal in the final.

Mizinov is a Russian national, but Russian athletes were only able to race as Authorized Neutral Athletes in Doha over the country's anti-doping rule violation.

In September, the International Association of Athletics Federations or IAAF extended the Russian ban for the Doha 2019 as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) previously said that there were 'inconsistencies' about the data samples of Russian athletes provided by Moscow lab.

So IAAF's decision meant Russia would miss the world athletics championships in Qatar.

Swedish athlete Perseus Karlstrom bagged the bronze medal in the 20 kilometers race walk final.

The World Athletics Championships in Doha will end on Oct. 6.