Podebrady triumphs for Giorgi and Mizinova

The winners of the 87th Poděbrady Walking walking meeting were the Italian Eleanora Giorgio and the Russian independent racer Vasily Mizinov. Anežka Drahotová and Lukáš Gdula take the master's titles.

The women's race had the same winner as last year. She was Italian, Eleanora Giorgio, and the defense was truly magnificent. Giorgio won the start goal style. Right in the opening meters, she took the lead and only increased her lead. The only competitor who managed to keep up with her at least in the first five kilometers was Mexican Alegna Gonzales. Anežka Drahotová moved around the running twelfth position. Halfway through the track, Giorgio was already forty-one seconds ahead of Gonzales, and Vaiciukeviciute, a Lithuanian, held the bronze position. At that moment, the fourteenth Drahotová lost almost three minutes to Italy. The first two places were basically clear, but the fight for bronze dramatized. Two kilometers before the finish, Mirna Ortiz from Guatemala overtook Vaiciukevičiute. Giorgio stepped up to the finish line she set in the new meeting record of 1:27:46. It surpassed last year's historical high by more than a minute and reached the top of this year's European tables. It is fourth in the world. Gonzales clearly defended the second place in 1:30:21 and Ortizová pushed the podium in 1:31:38. Fourth Civil Vaiciukeviciute (1:31:57) reiterated her position from last year. Anežka Drahotová reached the finish line in fifteenth place in the time of 1:35:43 and won her fifth title of champion of the republic at this distance.

Interview with Anežka Drahota <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/Odstoupeni_od_smlouvy_EN.pdf?v=1595420299" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">HERE</a>.

Interview with Eleanora Giorgio <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/Odstoupeni_od_smlouvy_EN.pdf?v=1595420299" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">HERE</a>.

The men's primacy also had a defending championship at the start. The German Christopher Linke has already won three times in the Poděbrady Walking meeting. It was he who tore up the leading group in the fourth kilometer and gradually built up a solid lead, which in the middle of the race was twenty-six seconds ahead of the trio of Kevin Campion, Vasily Mizinov and Wayne Snyman. At that moment, it seemed that Linke was going for the fourth triumph in Podebrady. But gradually his lead began to thin. And at the fifteenth kilometer, the leading four were already walking together. The Frenchman Kevin Campion was the first to drop out. During the eighteenth kilometer, the bronze medalist from the European Championships in Berlin, Vasily Mizinov. The only one who could react to his arrival was Snyman. On the contrary, Linke gradually ran out of power. Mizinov then maintained his few seconds lead over Snyman until the finish and rejoiced in the victory in 1:20:14. However, the South African could also be satisfied in second place. Performance 1:20:17 is his new career maximum. Linke held the third place (1:20:33) and it was the fifth place on the podium in this event. The best Czech competitor was nineteenth Lukáš Gdula (1:27:14). He also hung his fifth championship medal on his neck on the 20-kilometer track.

Interview with Lukáš Gdula <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/Odstoupeni_od_smlouvy_EN.pdf?v=1595420299" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">HERE</a>.

In the junior 10-kilometer race, the Mexican pair César Córdoba and Carlos Emiliano Mercenario took the lead right from the start and very soon formed a very solid lead over the rest of the starting field. During the fourth kilometer, however, Mercenario was disqualified and Córdoba was left alone. However, he didn't mind too much and he was constantly increasing his lead. In the middle of the track, the second Briton Christopher Snook lost fifty seconds to him. The best Czech national team player Rostislav Rožnovský moved in the group, which fought for fourth to eighth place. Córdoba's performance was absolutely sovereign, and at the eighth kilometer his lead was almost two minutes. On the contrary, the battle for second place was dramatized. Italian Gabriele Gamba got ahead of Snook and both fighters went the final circuit side by side. Mexican César Córdoba, meanwhile, has walked comfortably for a triumph in a new personal record of 41:24. In the end, the dramatic battle for second place sounded better for Christopher Snook, who had more strength at the end and took the silver position in 43:37. However, Gabriele Gamba was also satisfied with the third place and 43:41. He was also happy Rostislav Rožnovsky, who took sixth place and with a time of 44:03 met the nomination requirements for the start of the European Junior Championships in Borás, Sweden.

In the same category of girls, Puerto Rican favorite Rachelle de Orbeta has led the way for a long time. She was already twenty-three seconds ahead of the two-kilometer run. However, this was at the expense of the technicians and she was subsequently disqualified about halfway through the race. At that moment, the Mexican Krala Serranová took the lead, followed by her compatriot Sofia Ramosová and the Italian Andrada Lavinia Lacatusová. Serrano only increased her lead and led fearlessly for triumph. On the contrary, Ramos gradually faltered and was overtaken by Lacatus. Serrano no longer allowed any drama and won in time 47:36. Lavinia Andrada Lacatus (48:13) and Sofia Ramos (48:20) accompanied her to the podium.