Ireland's Brendan Boyce finished 25th in the men's 35km race walk at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.
Massimo Stano earned Italy their first gold medal at the championships, crossing the line in a time of 2:23:14, finishing one second ahead of silver medallist Masatora Kawano, while Sweden's Perseus Karlstrom completed the podium.
Boyce meanwhile claimed a season's best time, finishing the grueling course in 2:33:31.
Stano and Kawano battled shoulder-to-shoulder as the leading pair in the final 3km, but the Italian coped well with the pressure and accelerated in the final 300m to become the world champion.
Stano's gold is Italy's second medal at the championships after Elena Vallortigara won bronze in the women's high jump on Tuesday.
