Korean race walker Choe gets lapped but notches fastest time at third Olympics

He crossed the finish line, waving a small Korean flag, with a time of 1:26:15.

A fan waves a Korean flag as Choe Byeong-kwang competes in the men's 20-kilometer race walk at the Paris Olympics Thursday. [YONHAP]

Korea’s Choe Byeong-kwang finished the men’s 20-kilometer race walk in 42nd place at the Paris Olympics Thursday, ending his third straight Games without a medal.

He crossed the finish line, waving a small Korean flag, with a time of 1:26:15, falling short of his goal to finish within 1 hour and 19 minutes but surpassing his time of 1:28:12 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 1:29:08 in Rio in 2016.

Choe, 33, was the first among Korea’s three-man athletics squad to compete at this year’s Games, with high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok and triple jumper Kim Jang-woo still left to go.

Thunderstorms postponed the men’s race walk start by 30 minutes and left small puddles on parts of the course.

The group began as one large pack, with athletes donning a mix of sunglasses, running caps and headbands. But Choe quickly fell back, placing in the bottom three by the 17th minute.

Athletes compete during the men's 20-kilometer race walk at the 2024 Paris Olympics Thursday in Paris. [AP/YONHAP]

Racing in thick humidity, athletes gulped water from labelless plastic bottles and doused their heads with what was left. The course ran through the Trocadero and took athletes under the Eiffel Tower.

Officials wearing white, black-ribboned fedoras would occasionally flash a yellow paddle, a warning before marking down a violation.

The clouds began to clear as the race walkers made it to the halfway mark.

Choe trailed the majority of the pack, falling into last place before the spot was taken by Mexico’s Jose Luis Doctor, who was penalized for three rule violations and later disqualified.

Korea's Choe Byeong-kwang, center, competes in the men's 20-kilometer race walk at the Paris Olympics Thursday in Paris. [NEWS1]

He made it out of the caboose but hovered around 42nd to 43rd place. The frontrunners lapped Choe and his fellow stragglers with five kilometers to go.

A total of 49 athletes started the race but only 46 made it to the finish line.

India’s Akshdeep Singh bowed out after 25 minutes, the first man to drop out of the race, followed by Peru’s Cesar Augusto Rodriguez a half hour later.

Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado took gold with a time of 1:18:55.

Tokyo champion Massimo Stano of Italy fell just short of a podium spot, finishing in fourth place.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]