6th place Anežka Drahotová - 1:28:40 in the 20km race during this year's largest competition in the world walking gallery

ANEŽKA IS BACK AGAIN, LUKÁŠ TAKES

Chinese Taicang (a suburb of Shanghai) has become the organizer of the World Walking Team Championships (former IAAF World Cup). This competition, which takes place in a two-year interval, is, in addition to the Olympic Games and the World Championships, included in the highest A category of IAAF walking races. It is the race with the best level, as it can nominate up to 5 pedestrians from each country for each track. (For OH and MS only 3). A mini-team of 2 competitors started from the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, this corresponds to the performance reality of Czech pedestrians of all categories.

In the morning men's 50km race, Lukáš Gdula parted his race in a large group for a time of about 3: 56-8. He looked good for more than an hour, but then he probably decided not to leave the exercise "to have nerves on the twine" and showed me a successful etude on the topic of Agnes - MS London. Stomach and intestinal problems completely threw him off, and even though I offered him to pack the race, he returned to the track and "reached" 48. at 4:25:47 The penultimate of those who pushed the race to the finish line. But he said clearly - it is the world and I have not taken such a path to give up. Despite the fact that he was completely scrapped and could barely stand, in the early evening he came to cheer on Agnes for a woman in his 20s.

Among the 84 names at the start, there was no name from the current women's top pedestrian. I hid my worries from the start. I knew that Anežka was doing very well, but I was aware of her "eroded" self-confidence from last year's weak season. And this year's 3 races - yes, a very good standard, but not among the absolute top.

It was good that the start of the race was marked by the knocking of favorites and Ana calmed down very quickly. First km 4:45, 5km 22:35. There was more than a 20-member group in front. I also saw a light, "combed" step with my racer and suddenly the old, good, well-known Anežka was on the track! She checked the front of the race somewhere between the 4th and 10th figures, concentrated, regularly refreshing in high humidity. After 8 km, she accelerated, took care of the pace, and the train behind her began to tear. The top 10 remained in the front group (almost identical composition as at the Olympic Games in Rio). 10.km 44:42 (second five 22:07).

But then things started to happen. As expected, the remaining 2 Chinese women took the initiative and accelerated. González, a Mexican woman, could not resist the rise. With an attack after 13 km and the subsequent absolutely machine pace, it started to increase the lead (second 10 km 41:58, last km 4:06). The tearing calendar was suddenly used from the leading group. From the 14th km, each of the rivals fought not only with rivals, but also with himself and fatigue. The order, especially between 5th and 9th place, was different. The Mexican certainly made it to victory in 1:26:38. The fate of the remaining 2 medals was held firmly in the hands of the Chinese. Silver was won by Quiyang and bronze by favorite Yang. Behind them there was a fierce battle for 4th to 8th place. The place behind the medals was won by Brazilian De Sena. Anežka twice withstood the attack of her well-known rival Italian Giorgi (winner of this year's Poděbrady), after the blockbuster she caught up with her again, but for the third time she lost in the fight for the best European woman. 2th place (6nd from European women) in the time of 2:1:28 and the active way of racing were a beautiful point behind her return to the top. (Agnes's second 40 - 10:43).

She herself was satisfied with her performance: “Even if there was a million euros, I was no longer able to speed up. Too bad it's an unnecessarily slow start, but I left everything in the second half and the ending. "

The quality of the race is underlined by several numbers. 14 competitors under 1:30, 27 under 1:33, 44 under 1:35, 70 under 1:40. This is only on the sidelines, when there are too many difficult limits to be discussed in the Czech meadows and groves. You can fight the world and Europe in endurance racing. It is not just possible to get to this by the most practiced domestic way of selecting suitable types and preparation.