Australian Institute of Sport athletes Chris Erickson and Claire Tallent are in great form going into next month’s Delhi Commonwealth Games having won the men’s and women’s 20 km events at the Australian Road Walking Championships run in St Lucia, Queensland in late August.

Erickson led from the start to claim victory, recording a time of 1 hour 24 minutes 45 seconds.

'I wanted to head out strong and chase an IAAF A-qualifier but that didn’t eventuate, my lap times were good but tapered off and the hill had more of an influence than I thought,’ Erickson said.

‘I’m pretty happy and know that now it’s time for altitude training in Canberra before a race in China, before travelling to Cairns for some heat training and then on Delhi, where I’ll be aiming  to medal.’

Tallent dominated the women’s race finishing more than 6 minutes ahead of the Czech Republic’s Zuzana Schindlerová.

‘Jared (Tallent) and I will head to a race in China before another solid block at the AIS training in heat chambers to acclimatise to the Delhi conditions and from there I’ll be chasing a podium finish at the Games,’ Tallent said.

Erickson and Tallent are among the strong medal prospects in the Australian walking team for the Games, which includes AIS team-mates Jared Tallent, Luke Adams and Cheryl Webb.  

The AIS walkers are currently training under the guidance of AIS coach Brent Vallance at the Institute in Canberra where they have been using the altitude house in acclimatising to conditions in Delhi. 

They squad will set their sights on preparing for IAAF Race Walking Challenge final in Beijing on 18 September, before attending a final training camp in Cairns in late September in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games.