Unaware He Had One Lap Left, Soviet Loses 20-Kilometer Walk

In the first final Saturday at track and field’s World Championships, Mikhail Shchennikov overtook defending champion Maurizio Damilano of Italy after emerging from the tunnel to the National Stadium track in the men’s 20-kilometer walk.

A dramatic finish? Hardly.

Shchennikov stopped at the start-finish line, waiting to be congratulated by Damilano. Instead, unaware that there was one lap remaining, Shchennikov did a double-take when the Italian passed him. By the time the Soviet realized his mistake, he was too far behind to catch Damilano.

The winning time of 1:19.37 was declared a meet record, although many observers argued that it should have been disallowed because of a mixup befitting the track and field governing body’s title of International Amateur Athletic Federation.

While preparing for the final heat in the first round of the men’s 100 meters, track officials apparently were surprised to see the walkers emerging from the tunnel and hurriedly diverted them off the course when they reached the track. Many of the walkers had to hurdle starting blocks that had been put in place for the 100 meters before being removed by scrambling volunteers.

Meantime, sprinters in the final heat were forced to wait 25 minutes without warming up before the blocks were reset. The third World Championships were off to a chaotic start.