London, England – China's Chen Ding won gold in the men's 20-kilometer race walk Saturday, setting a new Olympic record to narrowly defeat Erick Barrondo of Guatemala.
Chen, who will celebrate his 20th birthday tomorrow, finished the race in 1 hour, 18.46 seconds, clipping .13 seconds off the record set by Poland's Robert Korzeniowski at the 2000 Sydney Games.
"I am excited for everybody in China, for my family and my coach," said Chen. "I had a very good preparation and I executed my plan well."
Barrondo finished just .11 seconds behind Chen to give Guatemala its first Olympic medal of any kind.
China's Wang Zhen claimed bronze with a time of 1:19:25, while countryman Cai Zelin was .19 seconds behind in fourth. The Chinese had never won a medal in men's race walking until today.
Trevor Barron of the United Stated finish in 26th place.
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