Wang Zhen led compatriot Cai Zelin across the line for a Chinese 1-2 in the men’s 20km walk at the Rio Olympics yesterday, claiming his first major title after a bronze at the London Games and two world championship silvers.

The 24-year-old hit the front some 3,000 metres from the finish, opening up a sizeable gap on Cai and crossing the line to claim gold after a gruelling one hour, 19.14 minutes in the Rio sun.

Wang, his hair plastered to his head and his red shorts and singlet saturated in sweat, waved his arms in triumph then turned to embrace Cai (1:19.26), having kept the Olympic title in Chinese hands for the second successive Games.

Australia’s Dane Bird-Smith, whose father and coach David Smith competed in the event at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, was third with a personal best time of 1:19.37 to claim a bronze medal in his first Olympics.

The Queenslander’s first sub-80 minute time kept local hopeful Caio Bonfim out of the medals with the Brazilian having to settle for fourth in a national record time of 1:19.42.

London Olympic champion Chen Ding finished 39th, while world champion Miguel Angel Lopez was 11th, dashing his hopes of winning Spain’s first gold medal in athletics since the 1992 Barcelona Games.