Former race walking champ Skurygin dies of heart attack

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's athletics federation says former champion race walker German Skurygin has died of a heart attack at age 45.

The federation says in a statement on its Web site that Skurygin died Friday night. Media reports say he died in his home town of Izhevsk.

Skurygin won the silver medal in the 50-kilometer race at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

In 1999, he won the gold in the 50-kilometer event at the 1999 worlds in Seville, Spain, but was later stripped of the medal after failing a doping test.

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