Dane Bird-Smith finishes fourth at world race walking championships despite suffering a fever

AN AILING Dane Bird-Smith has put in a rousing Olympics trial by placing fourth in the men’s 20km at the world race walking championships despite suffering a fever.

Dane Bird-Smith finished fourth in the men’s 20km at the world race walking championships despite suffering a fever. Pic Peter Wallis

AN AILING Dane Bird-Smith has put in a rousing Olympics trial by placing fourth in the men’s 20km at the world race walking championships in Rome.

And Australian female teams excelled on the first day of the meet, winning silver and bronze in team events with walks including five personal-best times.

Brisbane’s Bird-Smith also shaved 30 seconds of his personal best with a time of 1hr 19.38min to provide a confidence booster ahead of his Olympics debut in August.

Dane Bird-Smith finished fourth in the men’s 20km at the world race walking championships despite suffering a fever. Picture: Peter Wallis

“I almost didn’t start after waking up (with) a fever,’’ said Bird-Smith

“I’m totally stoked to show the world what I can do on a bad day – I wanted them to know that when they see an Australian singlet in Rio there is something to fear.’’

Queenslander Clara Smith was in the Australian junior girls team who won a bronze medal and the best performed on three Australians in a 10km event, winning in a time of 47min 10sec. Victorian Tayla-Paige Billington was 14th (47:41) and Canberra’s Zoe Hunt 17th (48:11).

The senior Australian women took silver behind China, with their consistency in finishing within 30sec of each other rewarded.

Victorian Regan Lamble was 12th in 1:29:33, NSW’s Beki Smith 15th in 1:29:49 and South Australian Tanya Holliday 16th in 1:29:56.

Originally published as Dane Bird-Smith finishes fourth at world race walking championships despite suffering a fever