U.S. Olympic Trials - 50 Kilometer Race Walk
Lagrange, Georgia
April 20, 1996

1. *Allen James (LaGrange, GA), 3:59:11
2. Andrew Hermann (Portland, OR), 4:07:52
3. *Andrzej Chylinski (Colorado Springs, CO), 4:09:22
4. Marco Evoniuk (San Francisco, CA), 4:10:45
5. Ian Whatley (Greenville, SC), 4:14:48
6. David Marchese (Atlanta, GA), 4:15:31
7. Rob Cole (LaGrange, GA), 4:16:42
8. Herm Nelson (LaGrange, GA), 4:17:51
9. Mark Green (Las Vegas, NV), 4:19:19
10. Curtis Fisher (Colorado Springs, CO), 4:32:57

also: 11. Mike Rohl (LaGrange, GA), 4:37:36. Did not finish: Carl Schueler (Colorado Springs, CO), Mike DeWitt (Kenosha, WI), Warrick Yeager (Twentynine Palms, CA), Gene Kitts (Aiea, Hawaii).

*James and Chylinski qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team by finishing today's Trials event, and by bettering the Olympic qualifying standard of 4:00:00 or better. Both James and Chylinski bettered the standard prior to today's race. All other competitors who finished the race have until mid-July to meet or beat the Olympic standard to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team.

Race Conditions: At the 7:30 a.m. EST start, it was mostly cloudy with temps. in the sixties. For the remainder of the race, temps. ranged in the 70's under mostly sunny skies. Windy conditions hampered the competitors from mid-race through the finish.

Race In Review: At the six kilometer mark (28:46) Herm Nelson held a slight lead over Warrick Yeager, Allen James and Rob Cole. At 8 kilometers (38:14) a trio consisting of Yeager, Nelson and James began to break away from the field. Yeager held a three meter lead over his closest pursuers.

The sun began to break through the cloud cover at 12 kilometers while the trio of Nelson, Yeager and James continued to stretch their lead over the rest of the field. Andrzej Chylinski led a group of four walkers 34 seconds behind the lead pack. Nelson held a slight lead over Yeager and James at 18 kilometers (1:26:24), right on pace for the Olympic Games qualifying standard of four hours. At 22 kilometers (1:45:31), it was Yeager's turn to take the lead over Nelson and James. Marco Evoniuk trailed the lead pack, 42 seconds behind Yeager. Between 22 and 24 kilometers, Yeager fell quickly away from the lead pack which now included Nelson and James only. Nelson hit 24k in 1:55:04. Evoniuk now held third place as the slumping Yeager chugged along in fourth. At this point, Yeager showed no signs of being injured.

Four-time Olympian Carl Schueler of Colorado Springs, Colorado, dropped out of the race during the 12th lap. Schueler entered the race with a bad hamstring which began to tighten on him, eventually forcing the 40-year-old veteran out of the race. At 28 kilometers, James held a five second lead over Nelson, and a 57 second margin over Andrew Hermann. Evoniuk was in fourth place, seven seconds behind Hermann. During lap 15, James pulled out to a commanding 43 second lead over Nelson. Hermann was in third place, 26 seconds behind Nelson. Evoniuk, in fourth place, trailed Hermann by 10 seconds. During lap 16, James hit 32k in 2:23:29, and the rest of the field with a Sunday punch.' James' lead was 1:25 over Herrmann, and 1:59 over Nelson, who had dropped to third place. James' march to victory continued during lap 18. James' 36km time was 2:51:31, good enough for a 2:25 lead over Hermann, his closest pursuer. At 40km, James passed by in 3:10:14, with Hermann trailing in second place, 4:45 behind the leader. James cruised to the finish in 3:59:11, defeating Hermann by over eight minutes.