Where does the Olympic walk go…?
- Editor
A bit shocking, but let our so-called reps - men know that 5km over 20 minutes really won't get them to the Olympics...
All walkers know what changes the world's walking has undergone in the last quarter of a century. Competitions in the hall, whiché they were a winter speed test and helped walkers to accelerate. The women's 10km walk has replaced the 20km distance, the juniors have stopped competing in the 5000m walk and instead walk the oval for 25 laps in the 10m event. A PIT lane has been added. 000km was replaced by a shorter distance of 50km more suitable for television companies.
In 2018, an article was even published on the IAAF/World Athletics website, recommending for the future of the discipline a change in Oregon to 20 and 30 km, and a year later to compete at distances of 10 and 30 km. All from the pen of Maurizio Damilano. A legend of the discipline and a person whose heart beats for walking - Robert Korzeniowski himself acknowledged that the numbers starting at the 50km distance do not inspire much optimism and that a change to a shorter distance is so desirable. In the end, the track with a distance of 35 km won.
The number of starters on the 35km course is growing. More athletes are willing to try this distance, races are increasing all over the world. Competitors can start more often than was the case with the classic fifty. During last year's race in Dudinc, Slovakia, the track was literally packed with competitors from all over the world. Unfortunately, the imperfection of the ranking system was revealed at the EC and WC, to which we added competitors who optimistically wanted to start at both distances and subsequently did not start the race... simply the number of competitors at the elite level did not meet the numerical quotas and the number of starters was thus reduced for the next championships.
This winter, the nomination criteria for the Olympic Games in Paris were published. The 35 km walking race was to be held as part of a combined team race consisting of men and women. Yes, that's right, he had. With just over 500 days left until the Paris Olympics, what the competitors are counting on may no longer apply.
The combined 35km race, which was supposed to suit Tv and be attractive due to the competition of mixed teams, is not, however, according to the Spanish website marca.com, interesting for the IOC (MOV). Quite rightly, the officials of the Olympic movement point out the strangeness of the tallying of performances. The winner would not necessarily be the one who crosses the finish line first, and instead of strong emotions when crossing the finish line, the competitors would take "calculators" in their hands and start counting. The audience's lack of clarity and the diametrically different situation from classic relays was clear to everyone, except WA and IOC officials, who quite rightly pointed it out. And so we do have the nomination criteria for Paris, but for a race that probably won't even happen. Logically, a classic race of 35 km would be offered, but even that does not correspond to WA's idea for many, sometimes very strange, reasons.
So what's currently in the walking game? It seems that the news in the discussion about the second pedestrian discipline is ekiden relay. Again, a team consisting of a man and a woman is in the game, when the competitors would divide the 10km sections (+195m) between them. He would thus cross the finish line as the first real winner of the race. Although the idea of a relay race is quite an attractive idea that could be interesting even for young competitors and will definitely have its charm, coming up with something like that a year and a half before the Olympic race is absolutely crazy. Disrespect to the competitors for their preparation and effort, that is probably the only possible way to describe this non-conceptual jumping from one idea to another.
What would what the Spaniards published mean for Czech walking? It doesn't change much in women. Both of our elite female walkers have a real chance to stand at the start of the 20km walk. Although the limit of 1:29:20 will probably be beyond the strength of both of our runners, they will be able to fight their way into the 48 starters within the ranking. That is, if he builds on his previous performances just above the ninety-minute mark.
However, in the men's race, in the above scenario, the Czech pedestrian will hardly appear. The limit of 1:20:10 for a 20km race is completely beyond the performance level of our elite competitors. Despite the fact that almost everyone would like our elite men to accelerate, the indoor performances unfortunately did not indicate a great acceleration.
What to do with the preparation, how to direct it, which track to prefer and whether it is currently worth trying starts within the 35km distance, this is what a number of Spanish elite walkers are asking. The only certainty remains that even 500 days before the start of the Olympics, the pedestrians have no idea what awaits them in Paris.
Taken from:
https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/63a1742ced7e871d1a269206.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3nl6d0a1LaKDaOIz44QHvQsXrBLftR2i2fRlF1gHpkZVel8IFsVe6l7zwhttps://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/63a1742ced7e871d1a269206.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3nl6d0a1LaKDaOIz44QHvQsXrBLftR2i2fRlF1gHpkZVel8IFsVe6l7zw
https://www.marca.com/atletismo/2023/02/16/63ee32bbe2704e0a168b45b2.html
https://www.marca.com/atletismo/2023/02/16/63edefb4e2704e41608b4603.html
