AIS walker Jared Tallent has again shown the world he means business by taking home $US30,000 ($A37,336) after winning the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Murcia, Spain.
 
It was only last month that Tallent created history by becoming the first Australian male track and field athlete since 1906 to win two medals at one Olympic Games.

Tallent’s preparation for Spain was less than ideal, as he was coming off the back of his gruelling 20-kilometre and 50-kilometre Olympic successes, a wedding and a short honeymoon.

While competing in Spain, Tallent watched his competitors suffer as the temperature soared to 33 degrees.
 
Digging his heels in deeper, he came back from an eight-second gap to overtake Ecuadorian Jefferson Perez and finished second to local favourite Francisco Javier Fernandez, making him the overall Challenge winner.

‘I would have settled for second, and I never thought I was going to be overall winner,’ Tallent said.

‘I really wanted Jefferson to win his last race – but that wasn’t going to get in the way of what I had to do.’

Tallent’s achievements are perhaps even more spectacular when you consider that as an athlete in a sport that attracts no commercial sponsorship, he has had to rely on the support of the Australian Institute of Sport to meet his daily training requirements, coupled with some federal government athlete support funding leading up to Beijing and the small income he makes as a tour guide at the Institute.