A late penalty for Tokyo Olympian Declan Tingay has seen Australia miss out on team and individual medals at the World Athletics race walking team championships in Oman.
Tingay was in the bronze-medal position in the dying stages of the men's 20km race on Saturday night (early Sunday AEDT) when he received a third red card for lifting, incurring a two-minute penalty.
The 23-year-old was still the first Australian home in 11th spot in one hour, 26 minutes and five seconds.
Olympic 50km race walker Rhydian Cowley finished just four seconds behind in 12th place (1:26:09), while Will Thompson (1:28:36) was 27th, with the top three finishers from each country combining for the total score.
That left Australia in fourth spot in the team event won by a Japanese squad including individual race winner Toshikazu Yamanishi (1:22:52).
Athletics Australia head walking coach Brent Vallance was thrilled by the overall performance, despite being "painfully close" to claiming two medals.
"We've been in this position before with our younger athletes, and generally the first time they are genuinely competitive in an international team, there is some level of greater scrutiny that they aren't used to," he said.
"Declan's position today is no different to say, Nathan Deakes in his early days, Jane Saville early in her career and even Jared Tallent.
"We don't want to say it's a rite of passage, but it isn't uncommon."
Australia's leading walkers will now turn their attention to the world track and field championships beginning in Eugene, Oregon in late July and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August.
