Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) athlete Jared Tallent has claimed bronze in the men’s 50 kilometre race at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico on 15 May.

Tallent endured hot and windy conditions, finishing in third place in 3 hours 54 minutes and 55 seconds, more than a minute behind Slovakia’s Matej Toth who won the race in 3:53.30.

Local favourite Mexico’s Horacio Nava finished in second place.

‘It was definitely a tough day at the office, not everything went my way so I was happy just to finish in the end and still get a medal,’ Tallent said.

Tallent becomes only the third Australian to claim an individual medal in this race, after AIS team-mates Nathan Deakes (bronze: men’s 20km event in 2004) and Simon Baker (gold: men’s 50km event in 1989 and silver in 1991).

In other strong results for AIS athletes, Australian team captain Chris Erickson achieved his best-ever result in his fourth world cup finishing in 15th place.

AIS team-mate Claire Tallent finished in 19th place in the women’s 20km event.