French walker Quinion claims bronze in first European marathon walk, unaware he had medalled

A bronze won in confusion

Aurélien Quinion, a 33-year-old gardener from the Paris region, claimed France's first international race walking medal since Yohann Diniz's 50 km world title in 2017, taking bronze in the marathon walk at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Saturday 15 August. Covering the 42.195 km distance in 2h59'29", a personal best on the format, Quinion crossed the finish line without realising he had medalled, sighing and looking bewildered before briefly walking in the wrong direction and clashing with an organiser.

The race was the first marathon walk contested at a European Championships, part of a format change introduced this year that replaced the traditional 20 km and 35 km events with semi-marathon and marathon distances to align race walking with running and boost the discipline's visibility.

How the podium took shape

Quinion sat fourth with one kilometre remaining, behind Hungarian Bence Venyercsán, who was running second at the time. Venyercsán, trying to close the gap on eventual winner Massimo Stano, committed faults that drew a four-minute penalty from the judges, dropping him to sixth overall. That penalty promoted Quinion to third. Italy's Stano, the Olympic champion, won in 2h56'49", a world record in the newly established event. Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez took silver.

Exhaustion and disbelief

After nearly three hours on a course with elevation changes and cobblestones, Quinion struggled to process what was happening around him.

It was complicated, everyone was talking to me, telling me: do this, do that, go over there, slow down, I don't understand anything that's happening.

He later joked about the gap to the winner.

I take a slap anyway because I see (Massimo) Stano doing a show the whole race! For some it's a Sunday stroll.

In the mixed zone, Quinion's back was visibly scraped, the result of compatriot Clémence Beretta tripping and grabbing onto him during the race. He described his physical state bluntly.

Cardiac-wise, I'm not very high but physically my legs are taking too much punishment.

A long-awaited first podium

The medal is Quinion's first at an international championship after years of near misses. He finished ninth in the 20 km walk at the Paris Olympics, competing hours after the birth of his son, and placed fourth in the 20 km and fifth in the 35 km at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. Before the European event, he had noted that he was absent from pre-race favourite lists despite believing he belonged there.

The bronze was France's seventh medal at these European Championships. Reflecting on his trajectory, Quinion drew on a schoolroom metaphor.

Let's say that over the years, I've gone from the back of the class near the radiator to the ranks of the good students. It's so special.