MEN'S 20KM WALKING RACE - Saturday, August 19, 23, start at 8.50:XNUMX a.m.:

START LIST / START LIST

Defending World Champion: Toshikazu Yamanishi (Japan; 1:19:07 h)
Best Performance of the Year: Zhang Jun (China; 1:17:38 h)
CR-Participant: UNFORTUNATELY, NO ONE FROM THE CR MEN COULD QUALIFY!!!

The World Athletics Championship is literally knocking on the door. This year, this global event is easily accessible for Czech fans, because the best male and female athletes in the world will compete in Budapest, Hungary. The Hungarians built a new stadium for the championship, which is to be a large athletics center in the future.

The opener of the entire championship will be the men's 20km walking race. And it will be a very open and exciting battle that does not have one favorite. This, after all, applies to all walking competitions. The competition is huge and finding the main favorites is not easy, there are always a lot of competitors with great times. This is in great contrast to most disciplines, where the circle of favorites is often given and the rest, a very high quality rest, simply fight for the next rungs.

51 athletes will start the men's race on Saturday morning after eight o'clock.

Despite the fact that the Japanese Ikeda only started in the domestic championship race this year and has only the third time of the season, he is to be reckoned with in the fight for the title, the Japanese know how to prepare well and Ikeda is a two-time world champion. Both other Japanese fighters also have excellent times.

The winner of the Poděbrady race, Ital Fortunato, will want to make their position uncomfortable. Although he is seventh in the "up" tables, he knows how to prepare for big events. To him must also be added the champion from Tokyo Massimo Stan. Southern Europe will also be represented by Spanish fighters - Alváro Martín and Diego Carrera, the organizer of the 10km race in Madrid.

South American fighters - Caio Bonfim, Hurtado, Pintado, Arevalo - will also want to fight for leading positions.

They will all want to fight for the podium.

We must not forget the Swedish Viking Persy Karsltröm. He has only fifteen times this year, but he finished second in Poděbrady and, above all, he is a two-time medalist from Oregon and can simply perform at his best at world events.

Aussies Declan Tingay and Kyle Swan have made huge progress this year. Tingay dominated the Nova project races in the WA silver category in competition with pedestrians such as Evan Dunfee and Karsltröm.

The German Linke and the others will probably already be pulling the short end of the racing rope, but even he can repeatedly go under 80 minutes. There are 22 of them in the starting list!

And who else to follow? Canadian Evan Dunfee. Due to the circumstances, this top 35-year-old had to first reorient himself to the XNUMX km distance. And he succeeded more than well jak his sixth place from Oregon showed.

During the Australian races in January, he went two tens on the border or under the limit of 40 min. In addition, 20 km in the Australian heat under 81 min. He completed his final training in St. Moritz together with Persy Karlström, Autralans and Germans. Evan's goal is primarily Paris, but he's a man who could be passed off as the dark horse of the race. A fresh engagement can also give him wings. To this popularizer of walking, who often participates in cross-country races of various distances in Canada and is running out very high in the ranking, another medal would certainly be appropriate.

The competition is just wide open and it's going to be a big battle.  Unfortunately, without Czech representatives.

We'll see what the future brings. Last year's juniors showed great progress this year, but the next step will be very difficult. Even Gdula and Hlaváč showed times below 87 minutes, but unfortunately they failed to improve their speed further. Both young men are very motivated, so let's hope that in them we will have not only future Czech champions, but also competitors with times at the level of the wider world elite.

WOMEN'S 20KM WALKING RACE - Sunday, August 20, 23, start at 7.15:XNUMX a.m.:

Defending World Champion: Kimberly García León (Peru: 1:26:58 h)
Best Performance of the Year: Maria Pérez (Spain: 1:25:30 h)
CR-participant: Eliška Martínková (USK Prague, PB: 1:30:53 h - 2022, this year's best performance: 1:33:02 h)

START LIST / START LIST - not yet available

The very next day, but an hour earlier, the women will also start their competition. 49 athletes signed up for the race and it is gratifying that ours will be among them Eliška Martínková. Although she did not meet the ČAS qualification limit, she very justifiably received a wild card. So far this year, Eliška has not followed up on her performances from last season, however, she improved race by race, at the spring peak in Poděbrady, she finished twelfth, and the only race that really failed was the EC in Espoo. She leaves for Budapest encouraged by her medal from the Universiade, it will be a success for her if she can break into the first 25 competitors. According to the table, there are 34 of them. Anything more will be a success in the huge competition.

As many as 20 women performed below the 90-minute mark this year. Among them, two athletes clearly stand out. Last year's double champion Kimberley García León of Peru. She won in La Coruna and Warsaw this year. She even set a world record in Dudince at a distance of 35 km.

Maria Peréz from Spain took it from her in Poděbrady with an absolutely dominant performance, who at the Spanish Championship in Córdoba achieved not only the title, but also the only performance this year below the 86-minute mark.

There are also very experienced Chinese women to be reckoned with, and Australian walking star Jemima Montag will want to have her say. She dominated not only on home soil this year, when she dominated both races of the Nova project, but also at the race in Japan. She completed the test race in AUS right after arriving from a training stay in the USA and went under 90 minutes again in the solo race. Another lost more than 20 minutes to her at the finish line.

The European walk will focus primarily on the Greek woman Ntrismpioti, the winner of the Poděbrady championship, who has been preparing for a large part of the season in cooperation with the Australian woman.

And then there is the champion from Sapporo, the Italian Palmisano, who successfully returned after a series of injuries in Poděbrady. Her desire for medals is huge and she knows how to prepare for big events. Moreover, as her coach said, the return was possible only in absolute form, nothing else was considered for them. Either this way or not at all.

Japan's Fuji will certainly be seen in the race, who is waiting for a big success among adults since her junior successes. The same can be said of the petite Mexican González. Both competitors were rivals in their junior years and continue to fight for a place in the TOP 8 at major competitions in the adult category.

It will be interesting to see how last year's Polish star Zdieblo will fare. So far this year, she has not followed up on last year's performance, she shocked the walking world last year in Oregon. He can do it again?

The pedestrian battle for medals and limits for the Olympic Games over a distance of 20 km will be an exciting spectacle, and we can be pleased that, at least in the women's category, Czech walking will be there.