Dawid Tomala of Poland won the Olympic men's 50km race walk in Sapporo on Friday, dominating the second half of the race and reaching the top of the podium within just his second completed race of the distance.
He finished in three hours, 50 minutes, and eight seconds.
Jonathan Hilbert of Germany won silver, while Evan Dunfee of Canada earned bronze.
Luo Yadong of China dominated for the majority of the first third of the race, until the pack, which included Tomala, came up with him around the 20-kilometre mark.
Around the 30 km mark, Tomala, 31, began distancing himself from the pack, gradually increasing his advantage to more than three minutes at one stage. He finished 36 seconds ahead of Hilbert.
Despite his big advantage, Tomala pushed the pace, but he did let off the gas at the end, knowing that he had secured first place and did not want to jeopardise his triumph.
"I was about 15 kilometres from the finish line when I realised I may lose energy since anything can happen in a 50-kilometre race. You can't always walk quickly enough to finish the race... But I felt at ease at that pace, so I attempted to keep walking for as long as I could."
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"However, the most important thing was to earn this medal, so I slowed down since a gold medal is a gold medal."
Yohann Diniz of France, the world record holder and 2017 world champion, dropped out of the race before the 30km mark, claiming fatigue and back pain as reasons for his withdrawal. The 43-year-old said it was one competition too many for him.
Tomala shifted from the 20km to the 50km race earlier this year because he was "bored and wanted new challenges," and his decision paid off right away.
"This year was a turning point for me since I ran my first 50K. It's the second 50 in my life and a gold medal is crazy, right?" he stated.