From March 26, 2023, the Masters Category World Championship will be held in Toruń, Poland. In total, more than 4000 male and female athletes from all over the world signed up for the competition. The walkers will compete in a 3000m indoor race (March 27 and 28.3), then a 10km race on the road (March 31.3).

World Masters Athletics TORUŇ website:  https://wmaci2023.com 

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3.000m walk in the hall:

K a total of 3000 competitors are registered for the 147m walk, the most experienced fighter will present himself in the M 90-94 category! A total of 99 female competitors will be represented, nthe most experienced competitor will be the lady competing in the category W 85-89!  Hats off to their indomitability and ever competitive spirit.

Our walkers had to deal with a busy schedule at the beginning of the season, when they choose between the MČR in Dudince, the World Championship of Veterans and the beginning of league races. If Česká Atletika plans to link cooperation with masters athletes more in the future, it would be good to think about them when planning the schedule. These enthusiastic sportsmen and women certainly deserve it.

In the category W 45-49 will defend the Czech colors Ivana Vranková. In her category, 12 competitors will take part, the biggest favorites are to be found among the German competitors - the Briton Schröter will fight with Bianca Schenker, the French competitor Glwadys Brusseau and the Hungarian Valéria Bironé.

Our competitor should be placed roughly in the middle of the racing field.

In the category W 50-54 among the 11 women i Lenka Borovičková. Her indoor form has an upward trend, and she too should be placed roughly in the middle of the starting field. The biggest favorite is undoubtedly the French Sonia Demon.

In the category W 50-59 14 competitors will be presented, among them from Brno Lenka Slabáková and after Ivana Vranková another representative of Vyškov Orlík - Anička Málková. The clear favorite is again the German competitor, Nicole Best.

Among men in the M 55-59 category will fight for the best possible time Pepa Smol, who fine-tuned his form in the Canaries and will have strong rivals among the 15 competitors to compete with him and a place in the first half. The biggest favorite is the French competitor Philipe Bonnenau.

Among men in category M 70-74 18 competitors will start, among them Petr Adam and Jiří Janoušek will compete for the best possible performance. Here, the home competitor will be the biggest favorite to win the title Bodguslaw Seidel.

The last category, where our competitors will start, will be the competition M 80-84. He will strive for success among nine men Vaclav Dostalik and Třebíčský Stanislav Marek. The Lithuanian Raitis Lerme and the American Joel Dubow will most likely compete for the victory.

 

10km walk to the circuit:

IMG 1383 LargeIn a 10km race in addition to our representatives, we will also see very interesting participation in other categories, when more than 300 hundreds of masters athletes will compete. The most experienced athletes will be the ladies in the W80 - 84 category, and for the men, the indomitable Ukrainian Ivan Pushkin will again be in the W90-94 category.

Right in the youngest category M 35-39 eight fighters will compete for the championship Jakub Jelonek known to us from the Prague clock thanks to P. Smol Rafal Sikora. Both very young veterans can run 10km under 43 minutes and the other men will hardly compete with them.

In the category W 40-44 will fight for a time under 60 minutes Martina Netolicka, the clear favorite of the race is the Kenyan Grace Wanjiru Njue, her biggest competitor will most likely be the Spaniard Marie Valero.

Eagle Ivana Vranková will start in the category W 45-49, where an exceptional pedestrian name appears, when Justyna Korzeniowska, who is now preparing under the guidance of her husband in South Africa with elite Polish pedestrians, will be among the twenty athletes at the start. However, they are definitely not among the favorites, they are favorites again British Schröter, Whitea Schenker, a Hungarian Valésays Bironé.

Lenka Borovičková will represent us in the category W 50-54 and it is definitely within her power to attack the bronze medal. This will also require a significant dose of luck, there are more women adepts for bronze and it will most likely be necessary to perform at the limit of Lenča's capabilities. The favorite is clear. She is France's Sonia Demon.

Among men a category above, M 55-59, will wear the national team jersey Josef Smola. He will consider it a success to place in the first half of the starting field, the clear favorite is the Frenchman Bonneau, two years younger, who this year covered 5000m in under 24min and managed 10km in an admirable 48min. In the begining the referee of international level - Emmanuel Tardi - should not be missing either.

We will have two representatives in the same age category. Brno Lenka Slabáková complement the eagles Anička Málková. Among the 12 competitors, the fight for gold will most likely take place between the German Sigute Brönnecke and the Hungarian Kata Bodorkos-Horváth.

Among the sixties M 60-64 will walk in Czech colors Miloš Nemec, Spaniard Miguel Garcia and Frenchman Jean-Marie Greaume will most likely fight for the gold.

In the same category of women, there will still be a novice among the pedestrians, from Uherskohradišť, at the start Libuše Vlachynská, which mainly goes to gather more experience. Janina Luniewska from home is the closest in the table to the championship title.

Peter Adam will fight among the twenty-three men of the category M 70-74. Great Britain's Ian Richards has the best recorded performance.

We will have two representatives among men M 80-84. Václav Dostalík and Standa Marek although they are not among the medal candidates, they will wear the national jersey with pride. German Wolf-Dieter Giese and Lithuanian Raitis Lerm are fighting for the gold.

Let the legs of all our representatives go, the technique is exactly as it should be and let the joy of the achievements be surpassed only by meeting foreign athletes. 🍀

Author of the article: Lucie Nekulová