Ryashkina Walks Away With 10K World Record -- Aussie, Topping Own Mark, Loses

For years, racewalking has provided a haven for those whose legs have been ravaged by running and have been forced almost by doctor's orders to turn to a less rigorous endeavor.

But the curiosity of a sport, its competitors marked by herky-jerky arm movement and undulating leg motion, is becoming a far less trivial pursuit.

Since the International Olympic Committee conferred full-medal status on racewalking for the 1992 Games in Barcelona, world-class athletes have rushed to embrace it.

Not so surprising, Australia's Kerry Saxby, who has so thoroughly dominated the sport she has held world records 28 times at various distances and classifications, once again lowered one of her own standards yesterday - and later found herself accepting a silver medal.

When the Soviet Union's Nadezhda Ryashkina won the 10-kilometer walk in a world-record 41 minutes, 56.21 seconds, the mark had fallen for the fourth time in little more than a year.

Ryashkina's was the first world-record performance of the Goodwill Games track-and-field meet and the second, after swimmer Mike Barrowman's in the 100-meter breaststroke, of the 17-day competition.

As an indication of the sport's sudden maturation, the 17,500 who lustily cheered Ryashkina's efforts at Husky Stadium may have witnessed the end of the run on racewalking records.

Saxby, who had the previous standard of 42:25.2, said Ryashkina's time edges the mark close to a threshold.

``I believe the times will be harder to break now,'' said the Aussie, who has held records from 1,500 meters to 20 kilometers.

``To do a low 41 (minutes), you'd need perfect conditions. No wind. And competition like we had today.''

A racewalker for only 2 1/2 years, Ryashkina, 23, began the recent record-setting binge with a clocking of 43:08.4 in Fana, Norway, April 28, 1989.

After the record changed hands a couple times, Saxby reclaimed the record, also in chilly Fana, May 26. Those two, plus East Germany's Beate Anders, the world-record holder at 5 kilometers, set a blistering early pace.

Ryashkina and Saxby, both former middle-distance runners who left that pursuit after a series of leg injuries, left Anders midway through the 25-lap race.

Ryashkina and her coach had planned before the event to pursue a 42-second-flat clocking. With no expectations of her own, Saxby merely went along for the ride.

``I had a dream the other night that I was going to go 42,'' Saxby admitted, ``but some of my dreams are so unrealistic. . . . When Nadia went out, I was just going to follow.''

That, however, wasn't completely in Ryashkina's plans.

At the 8-kilometer mark, the Soviet veered to the outside and allowed Saxby to pass her.

She later explained that ``it is easier to go second and get a little bit of rest.'' She got enough rest to pull even with two laps remaining, then took the lead in the final backstretch and fought off Saxby at the finish.

Saxby, sounding as if the racewalkers were setting world records almost as an after-thought, said she had been ``pushed'' into a record pace by Anders in Norway last May.

Forced again by Ryashkina into a record pursuit, Saxby said yesterday's was ``the closest race I've ever had.''

That's saying a lot. Saxby is only 29, but is kind of the grand dame of racewalking. She has seen more than three minutes shaved off the world record she set while winning the event during the 1986 Goodwill Games.

As if completing a cycle, she and Ryashkina yesterday helped administer their sport one last growth spurt.

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THE MEDALISTS -- TRACK AND FIELD

Women's 10-kilometer walk

Gold: Nadezhda RyashkinaUSSR

Silver: Kerry SaxbyAustralia

Bronze: Beate AndersEast Germany