In the Helsinki Athletics World Championship, 32-year old Hatem Ghoula was close to the bronze medal on Saturday. <i>La Presse</i> reports that Ghoula finished in fifth place in 20 km race walk. The Tunisian athlete crossed the finish line after his 1h 20' 25" performance. Ghoula is the African record holder in both the 20km and 50km races. Ghoula finished 11th in the 20km competition at the 2004 games in Athens.
The winner of the race in Helsinki was Ecuadorian Jefferson Perez (31 years old), whose time was 1h18'35''. Perez was followed by the Spanish Francisco Javier (1h19' 36 '') ranking second and Juan Manual Molina (1h19' 44 '') ranking third.
