Race walk takes over Santee with first-time and back-to-back USATF champions crowned

SANTEE, California -- In his first USATF national championship since switching allegiance from Sweden, 38-year-old Andreas Gustafsson clinched the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men’s 50 km Race Walk Trials win. While the Olympic standard of 3:50:00 remained elusive, the nation’s best 50 km race walkers earned spots on the 2020 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships later this year in Belarus. 
 
Results of today’s championship events can be found here, and video highlights will be available later on USATF.tv+. 
 
Gustafsson (Coronado, California) wasted no time setting an impressive pace behind leader Nick Christie (El Cajon, California). He persevered throughout the 50 km race as temperatures rose from 44 to 70 degrees fahrenheit, and surpassed Christie around 30 km to hold on for the win in 4:12:11.
 
El Cajon native Christie looked poised to bring home the title for the majority of the race, leading from the gun and eventually lapping Gustavson and defending champion Matthew Forgues (Boothbay, Maine). At around 40 km, as the sun bore down on the 1.25 km loop course, Christie began to slow down and later noted that he felt ill. The 17-time national champion pushed through to finish third in 4:27:28. 
 
Second place finisher Forgues was a consistent presence throughout the grueling distance. The defending champion kept pace behind Christie and Gustafsson, cheered on by friends and family, and maintained around 8:12/mile. Forgues seized the opportunity to move up to second position following Christie’s fallback and crossed the line in  4:14:42.
 
Robyn Stevens earns back-to-back USATF Women’s 50 km Race Walk Championships title
 
Defending champion Robyn Stevens (Vacaville, California) added another 50 km Race Walk national title to her list of accomplishments with a strong finish of 4:37:31, which would have ranked her fourth in the men’s race.
 
Stevens led from the start, competing against American record holder Katie Burnett (Bellevue, Washington), and maintained the lead with unstoppable vigor. Erin Taylor-Talcott (Owego, New York) made her way up to earn silver in 4:47:00, and Burnett rounded out the top three championship finishers in 4:53:26.