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 

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:

In 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

In quick succession, the walkers will have to contend with both domestic championships at 35km and 20km, and walkers of the MASTERS category at the same time with the World Championship.

DUDINCE - MČR 35km walk // TORUŇ MS MASTERS 3.000m 10km walk // OLOMOUC MČR 20km walk.

It seems that the ugly gray, cold and disgusting Czech winter will finally ring its bell and spring will come next, and with it, in very quick succession, three peaks of the spring walking season. Two of them are national championships: at 35 km traditionally in Dudince, at 20 km traditionally (every other year) in Olomouc and the third is the World Championship of the MASTERS category in Torun, Poland. This is a very big bite even for the best and most experienced walkers, and it will be very interesting to see how anyone can cope with this demanding program and, therefore, who has prepared in the winter. And that's not to mention a smaller pacifier (only for someone) in the form of the 1st round of the league walking race, which is scheduled for 2.4 without any sense of timing. in Rumburk........

Below is a summary of what awaits us in a short time in chronological order, not in order of importance, because, logically, something different is important for everyone. Someone wants to be the World Champion, someone the Champion of the Republic and someone is a domestic patriot and it will be enough for them to be the Champion of Rumburka.......... and it's a shame that someone didn't think about the term calendar and it wouldn't necessarily be the World Champion , just use your brain and think..........

DUDINCE - MČR 35km walk - Dudinská 50ka, 25.3 2023:

All information about the race is given at  www.dudinska50.sk 

Favorites for the national titles in the 35km walk they are quite clear and there is no doubt about it at all Tereza Durďiaková in women, Vít Hlaváč in men.

For applications to the MČR for 35 km, it is necessary to use the registration system on the website https://online.atletika.cz/prihlaska/Account/LogOn?id=65730&idGroup=1

WORLD MASTERS Athletics TORUŇ - World Championship 3.000m walk in the hall 27.-28.3 and 23km walk circuit 10: 

All information about the World Championship in Toruń, Poland is given at  www.wmaci2023.com 

OLOMOUC - MČR 20km walk + MČR MASTERS 10km walk - Olomouc dvacítka, 15.4 2023:

All information about the race is given at  www.atletikaolomouc.cz

Favorites of the MČR 20km walk they are also very easy to find and though Eliška Martínková in women and again Vít Hlaváč in men, the duo of young people Zajíček and Morávek can have a chance for the title only in the event of an injury to Hlaváč (which, of course, we don't wish for him) or in his absence........

For applications to the MČR for 20 km, it is necessary to use the registration system on the website https://online.atletika.cz/Propozice/propozice/65729

We wish all competitors a successful start to the 2023 spring season.

Pedestrian tables for indoor walking CR 2023 / Leistungen Gehen in der Halle Tschechien 2023

Lucka Nekulová prepared the 2023 indoor walking tables for you:

The indoor tables will be supplemented with the results of the MS Masters in Toruń. In case of discrepancies, please send comments by email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need to have Javascript enabled. and it will be fixed. If any competitor started in races not listed in the tables, please send the results to the same e-mail. Thanks and have a nice sports day

Pedestrian tables for indoor walking CR 2023 in .pdf / Leistungen Gehen in der Halle Tschechien 2023 in .pdf

Pedestrian tables for indoor walking CR 2023 in .xlsx / Leistungen Gehen in der Halle Tschechien 2023 in .xlsx

Malaga, Colombia, Kenya, Lanzarote - these are all the current destinations of Czech pedestrians for the finish of winter preparations for the spring part of the racing season.

It doesn't matter if you are eighteen or sixty, everyone wants to reach their maximum, everyone wants to succeed in their competitions, at the World Championships, European Championships, national championships, regional races........and that is why Czech pedestrians are diligently finishing their winter preparations in various world destinations (each according to their own wishes, from which we bring a few photos and news.

COLOMBIA - Eliška Martínková / coach Kateřina Cermáková:

In the Colombian city of Chia (over 2m above sea level) on 500. as part of her training stay, Eliška Martínková competed. She crossed the finish line of the 25.2 km race in third place in 20:1:40.

Results of the National Championship of Colombia.pdf / Ergebnisse National Meisterschaften Kolumbien.pdf

 KENYA - Tereza Ďurdiaková:

Tereza Ďurdiaková ventured a bit "into the unknown" for pedestrians, but as is well known, luck wishes to the brave and prepared...

 Lanzarote - Club La Santa : Josef Smola / fitness trainer Jaroslav Mojžíš:

European Championships in Athletics 1978 - Prague, Strahov

VIDEO - Honza Dzurňák with starting number 62 on the legendary historic 50km route Prague - Poděbrady. It used to be a royal pedestrian discipline and an experience that is nowhere to be found today!!!

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://www.worldathletics.org/news/press-release/race-walking-committee-recommendations?fbclid=IwAR0TMcUo0AiRVHB0jmf-4g9OM2xo8fND7vaOvUQ5mYJhtKGJSCKWaAbFSvI

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