Russian race walk sensation Stanislav Emelyanov with Barni.

Ever since the first gold medallist of these championships, 20km walk gold medallist Stanislav Emelyanov, came to Barcelona he has had his mobile phone switched off so that no one could disturb him.

So eight hours after having the European Athletics Championships gold medal draped around his neck at the Parc de la Ciutadella he still had not phoned his mother to tell her the good news. No doubt she would have punched the air since she is a boxing coach back home in Saransk in Mordovia.

It was when he was 16 that Emelyanov moved to Saransk, the hotbed of Russian walking, where he teamed up with one of the country's most famous coaches, Viktor Chegin. Coach to Olympic and world champions, Olga Kaniskina and Valeriy Borchin to name but two, Chegin is something of a demi-God in Saransk where statues have been erected to him.

To a teenager like Emelyanov, his trust in Chegin's authority is absolute so when he received a warning from the judges in the race during the 16^th kilometre, his coach was ready to reassure him to take no notice and “press on”. Emelyanov was self-possessed enough, too, to know that since “I have never been disqualified” that there was not too much to worry about. With impeccable style, he maintained his rhythm to the end.

Ultimately, Emelyanov won easily, but the last person who was ready to relax was the winner himself: “It was only when I passed 18km that I started to believe I would win,” he admitted. “It may have looked easy, but it was not. First times are never easy,” said the man who has a hat-full of junior titles but who was making his début in the senior ranks. And what a début!

Despite being chased by the likes of Italian Olympic 50km champion, Alex Schwazer, who was a minute faster than the Russian on paper, Emelyanov simply walked away from them all with the aplomb of someone of more mature years.

Schwazer paid tribute to him in the evening press conference held at the Olympic stadium: “It was not a tough race for him, it was easy,” he said, admitting the superior quality of the young Russian's walking.

For his part, Emelyanov admitted to being unsettled by the experience of being out in front for so long: “I was afraid the whole distance that the pack would eat me up, but I followed my coach's instructions. The crucial moment was when the pack reeled me back in at six kilometres and I went away again.”

It was a fascinating moment. The small, blonde Russian was being inexorably hauled in by the most experienced walkers in Europe, but instead of wilting, he dug deep and set about rebuilding his lead. Many an athlete would not have had the mental strength, but this diffident teenager seems to have it in abundance. From that moment on, the title was his, but he continued to pile on the pressure: “At 15km I increased the tempo and did what my coach told me.” That fact was borne out by the statistics. The section between 14 and 16 kilometres was the fastest of the race, 7:54.

Though the temperature at eight in the morning was in the mid-twenties and rising, Emelyanov found the conditions pleasant: “Compared to the weather we are having in Russian right now, this was cool. But I still had to pour water over myself in the latter stages of the race.”

An only child from a broken family – he does not know what his father does - Emelyanov was brought up in a town in Mordovia, 220km from Saransk. It was a perceptive teacher who recognised his talents and recommended he move to the walking capital. When he is not training, he is studying his second year of law.

An unknown when he arrived in the Catalan capital, Emelyanov leaves in his first senior year with not only a gold medal, but already a fearsome reputation. The future of Russian walking is secure.