In the past, the Olympic champion in the 50 km from Rio 2016, Matej Tóth, and the sixth in the 35 km at the EC in Munich 2022, Miroslav Úradník, now a trio of leading Slovak female walkers. Hana BurzalováEma Hačundová a Klaudia Žarska are on a five-week training camp in Australia, which also includes participation in an international research camp organized by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). How are the Slovak women from the training group Roman Benčík a Ľuboš Machník did they get to the opponents?

australia 1"Australian coach Brent Vallance approached Matej Tóth to see if we were interested in participating in a camp related to nutrition research. We agreed. We think it's an opportunity to improve, and since we'll spend a lot of time with the world's best female walkers, we have a chance to learn something new." explains the Slovakian record holder in walking for 35 km under the age of 23, Hana Burzalová, who qualified for the World Championships in Eugene and European Championships in Munich last year. "I think we started with 21, some girls have already finished the camp due to health problems or injuries. There are girls from Lithuania, Hungary, France, Finland, Italy, Greece, Colombia, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong and Germany.”

Slovak women's runners decided to accept the offer for a concentration and international camp in Australia based on the experience of Matej Tóth and Mir Úradník, who was also warmly recommended by the former SAZ head coach Martin Pupiš. "Preparing in the company of the world's best female walkers is a great and excellent experience for us," emphasizes Hana Burzalová.

She, Ema Hačundová and Klaudia Žárska flew to the other side of the world at the very end of the previous year - but without coaches. They communicate with Roman Benčík and Ľuboš Machník on a long distance. "Of course, we miss our coaches in training, but we have the help of Brent Vallance, the Italian coach Alessandro Gandellini, the former outstanding walker Jared Tallent and others." says Burzalová, who in 2022 won the Slovak walking titles for 10 km, 20 m on the oval and 000 km.

Slovak female walkers arrived in Australia for the New Year. They spent the first week at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra, where they underwent all the necessary tests - stress and indoor - required for research as input data.

Hana Burzalová: "Then we moved for three weeks to the Perisher Valley - to the mountains at an altitude of 1700 meters. At the end of the stay, we will go back to Canberra for exit tests and finish the camp on February 2nd with a race. We mainly focus on volume training, but some trainings are also focused on intensity.

The first race was completed by the participants of the international walking camp at the AIS athletics stadium in Canberra. Hana Burzalová took 11th place in a personal record of 47:36,10 min, Klaudia Žárska was 12th also in a personal best (47:44,37), Ema Hačundova was 16th (49:07,70).

australia 2"Yes, I expected to improve, but I wasn't sure if I would be sufficiently acclimatized by the time of the race. It worked out, and I attribute it to the high-quality preparation for the concentration in Cyprus in December," clarifies Burzalová, foster child of Jozef Pavelka's Dubnica pedestrian hatchery.

Klaudia Žárska did not expect a significant improvement either, but she believed in the person. "I thought I would go slower. However, the December concentration in the High Tatras was a success. After a long period of being plagued by injuries, I'm glad to finally finish the race pain-free and - in a personal best." adds another former pedestrian from Dubnica.

We have already mentioned that on February 2, Slovak women will start another race in Canberra – again at 10 m with the status of a World Athletics Race Walking Tour silver event.

"We believe in even better results," Slovak women walkers say they have great conditions for training in Australia. "It was only after moving to the mountains that we lacked opportunities for regeneration - also excellent, as we have in Banská Bystrica at VŠC Dukla," recalls Hana Burzalová's 18th for 20 km at the European Championships in Munich and adds with a smile: "In Australia, however, we have our own chef within the camp, he cooks excellently. However, sometimes we have a problem eating everything they serve us in a day, because our diet is built on a high energy level."

The wards of the duo Benčík - Machník have a really busy training program in Australia. They don't have much time left. "We didn't have a lot of time off, training and camp fill almost all of our time. Right during the training, however, we saw kangaroos in the wild. That was an experience!' Hana Burzalová gets excited.

After returning from Australia, Klaudia Žárska will go on another training stay to Turkey, where on February 25 she will take part in the national championship there for 35 km. The race is also part of the World Athletics Race Walking Tour series. Exactly one month later, on March 25, Burzalová, Hačundová and Žárska complete the traditional race in Dudincie. "All three of us hope to improve our personal bests in 2023 and qualify for the World Championships in Budapest in August," Hana Burzalová speaks for all three.