Mikhail Ryzhov produced a dominating performance over the second half of the men’s 50km race walk at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang, China, to win in a world-leading time of 3:39:05 on Saturday (3).<o:p></o:p>Ryzhov, the silver medallist on home soil at last summer’s IAAF World Championships in Moscow, capitalised on the absence of Ireland’s world champion Robert Heffernan, who will instead contest the 20km on Sunday, to win his first major international title and the US$30,000 first prize.<o:p></o:p>At just 22, the Saransk-based walker becomes one of the youngest ever senior men’s winners at the Cup and the sixth Russian winner in the 50km at the last seven editions.<o:p></o:p>Russian walkers filled four of the top five spots in Taicang and comfortably retained the team title, equalling the best ever score of seven points, which the Russians themselves had achieved back in 2002<o:p></o:p>Rzhov’s compatriot Ivan Noskov, who walked stride-for-stride with his team mate until the last three kilometres, had the best race of his life to take the silver medal in a personal best of 3:39:38, completing the distance 1:58 faster than he had ever done before.<o:p>"It was our plan to work together then at 47km I decided to surge," said Ryzhov, another member of Russia's famed walking centre in Saransk.</o:p>The slight pre-race favourite, Australia’s Jared Tallent, a medallist over 50km at the last two Cups, found that the gold medal once eluded him on the global stage and had to settle for the bronze medal in 3:42:48.<o:p></o:p>Completing the winning Russian team, the veteran two-time bronze medallist Yuriy Andronov was fourth in 3:43:52, walking a solitary race for almost 45km.<o:p></o:p>In retrospect, the shape of the race evolved very quickly.<o:p></o:p>Quick startAlmost from the gun, a group of four formed at the front – Ryzhov, Noskov, Andronov and Tallent – but by 5km Andronov was already starting to drift backwards as his three rivals went past that checkpoint in a swift 22:14. <o:p></o:p>Ryzhov pushed hard over the next five kilometres and took Noskov with him as Tallent decided not to go immediately shoulder-to-shoulder with the Russian pair, who went through 10km in 44:26 with Tallent two seconds adrift.<o:p></o:p>Over the course of the next three laps that was very much the same story, 15km being passed in 1:06:31, but Tallent closed quickly as they approached the end of the eighth lap and then surged into the lead.<o:p></o:p>Over the next lap, the Olympic silver medallist built up a lead of 25 metres over the Russian pair, a gap which stayed the same on the 10th lap.<o:p></o:p>Tallent passed 20km in a respectable 1:28:27 with Ryzhov and Noskov three seconds further back.<o:p></o:p>The leading trio kept to the same rhythm over the next three kilometres before Ryzhov decided it was time to close down on Tallent as the trio approached the end of the 12th lap and just edged in front with Noskov, as always, following closely in the footsteps of his compatriot."We talked and decided not to follow Tallent and just work together," commented Ryzhov, suggesting that, despite Tallent looking comfortable at that stage in the race, the Russian pair were not seriously worried about eventually getting back on level terms with him.&nbsp;<o:p>Tallent in trouble</o:p>Ryzhov led the way through the halfway point in 1:50:33 as Tallent suddenly started gradually to look less sprightly.<o:p></o:p>However, Tallent managed to hang on for the next four kilometres before conceding some daylight to the two Russians who then passed 30km in 2:12:31 with their antipodean rival three seconds further back.The gap then started to open up between the Russians and Tallent considerably from 32km."The pace was fairly easy at the start and I decided to push it. At 30km I started to feel the pinch," reflected Tallent on the ebb and flow of his challenge.<o:p></o:p>With Ryzhov still pushing the pace and his team mate following his lead, the Russians passed 35km in 2:34:27 with Tallent now 19 seconds back.<o:p></o:p>The gap between Tallent and the Russians stayed basically the same for the next two kilometres but then he started to drift further back from 37km onwards as Ryzhov and Noskov passed 40km in 2:56:29, with Tallent now 39 seconds in arrears.<o:p></o:p>The gap continued to grow over the next five kilometres, with Tallent obviously realising that the gold had slipped from his grasp and losing about 10 seconds a kilometre, with the Russians going through 45km in 3:18:22 and their closest rival now 1:23 back.<o:p>"I managed to claw back a bit of the deficit between about 41 and 42 kilometres but then it really started to hurt and I decided just to hang on and make sure I got the bronze as Andronov was looking strong," added Tallent.</o:p>As always, Ryzhov was driving the train and with three kilometres to go started his push for home and Noskov, operating in unknown territory, had no answer to his compatriot’s decisive move.After Tallent and Andronov had crossed the line, Aleksey Bartsaykin finished fifth in a personal best of 3:46:36. Oleksey Kazanin was the first Ukrainian walker across the line in sixth with 3:47:01, another personal best, and had the reward of leading his colleagues to the team silver medals with 25 points, moving one place up the podium from their breakthrough performance in 2012 when they made the team podium for the first time when finishing third.Getting bigger cheers than even the winner, China's Zhang Lin was the first man home for the hosts in ninth place, with a personal best of 3:48:49, steering China to the team bronze medals with 40 points.Phil Minshull for the IAAF<o:p></o:p>

Mikhail Ryzhov produced a dominating performance over the second half of the men’s 50km race walk at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang, China, to win in a world-leading time of 3:39:05 on Saturday (3).

Ryzhov leads home rampant Russian team – senior men's 50km report Taicang 2014

Following a stunning opening ceremony for the 26th edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup on Friday, with the opening speech given by IAAF Treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, the first gun is ready to be fired for the five races that will be staged by the Chinese city of Taicang on Saturday and Sunday (3-4).<o:p></o:p>The final numbers of participants are 113 men and 88 women for the 20km races, 60 men for the 50km race, and 41 men and 48 women respectively for the junior 10km races.<o:p></o:p>The total of 350 athletes, with no walker allowed to compete in more than one event, from 48 IAAF Member Federations is a record number on both accounts for a Cup staged outside Europe.<o:p></o:p>Start lists and athlete biographies are now available on the IAAF website competition page <a href="http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-race-walking-cup">here</a>&nbsp;(look under EVENT INFORMATION at the foot of the page).<o:p>IAAF</o:p>

Following a stunning opening ceremony for the 26th edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup on Friday, with the opening speech given by IAAF Treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, the first gun is ready to be fired for the five races that will be staged by the Chinese city of Taicang on Saturday and Sunday (3-4).

Taicang 2014 - entry lists and biographies now available

- READ ON for English and French language versions of this story - La traduction française suit le texte anglaisIf race walking needed a better spokesman for the discipline, it’s unlikely that it could do better than the eloquent and entertaining Jesus Angel Garcia, who will be contesting his 11th IAAF Race Walking World Cup when he stands at the start of the 50km event in Taicang on Saturday (3).Nevertheless, the 44-year-old Spaniard still found time on the day before his competition to speak to the media, reflect on his career and provide some thoughts on the state of his section of the sport.As the only ‘survivor’, as he put it, competing in Taicang that also raced when the Cup was last held in China, in Beijing 19 years ago, he could have taken the opportunity to talk about the good old days; instead he looked enthusiastically into the future.“Race walking and its rules have evolved a lot in the 20 years or so I have been involved in the sport. Indeed, if you look back 40 years, times have changed. “Looking at the 50km, my event, the athletes are walking so much faster than they were before so it is appropriate that we have the technology to enforce the rules.“How to judge accurately and fairly, so that every walker in a race is subject to the same interpretation of the rules, has become somewhat problematic because the event is a technical one but technology can help us, such as GPS devices, and I welcome other ideas that will help us progress.”“I think we (race walkers) have to change with the times, like other sports such as triathlon.”As Garcia was speaking at the traditional press conference ahead of the 26th edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, outside the Taicang Library there was a local event for youth and junior walkers taking place with an innovative new ‘pit stop’, which saw athletes who had received a certain number of yellow cards receive a time penalty, rather than being disqualified.The rules have still to be ratified for international competition and will be discussed by the IAAF Race Walking Committee in Taicang on Monday (5).“However, whether rules like this are ultimately adopted or not, I think it shows that the IAAF is open to new ideas to make the sport more attractive,” said IAAF competitions director Paul Hardy.“I personally like this idea as it is easy for young race walkers to get discouraged if they are disqualified and shown red cards too frequently. We are also looking at other technology-related innovations that will help broaden the appeal of race walking and assist with the implementation of the rules.”Garcia might even be around to be test them out himself.“I guess I’m the Peter Pan of race walking, eternally young,” he joked. “Perhaps one day I’ll wake up and realise that I’m old but I haven’t yet. I love this sport, that’s what has kept me competing for more than 20 years, race walking and athletics in general is in my veins.”Garcia also likened himself, with a big smile, to the rock and pop legend Mick Jagger, mainly due to still being at the top of his profession after a long career rather than his singing ability.However, he was happy to hum a refrain from another veteran music icon Bob Dylan, and provide race walking-orientated lyrics to the latter’s famous 60s ballad The Times They Are a Changin’.Phil Minshull for the IAAF Garcia à l’épreuve du temps lors de Taicang 2014 Si la marche athlétique se cherchait un porte-parole idéal pour la discipline, gageons qu’elle aurait bien du mal à trouver quelqu’un de plus indiqué pour le rôle que Jesus Angel Garcia, réputé pour ses bons mots et son caractère enjoué. Garcia s’aligne ce samedi (3) au départ du 50km à Taicang, pour ce qui sera sa onzième participation à une Coupe du monde de marche de l’IAAF. À la veille de la compétition, l’Espagnol, 44 ans, a pris le temps d’aller à la rencontre des journalistes pour revenir sur sa carrière, et exposer son point de vue sur sa discipline au jour d’aujourd’hui. En sa qualité de “dernier survivant”, selon sa propre expression, parmi tous ceux qui avaient concouru lors de la dernière fois que la Coupe du monde était organisée en Chine, voilà 19 ans, il aurait pu saisir cette opportunité pour revenir sur le “bon vieux temps”, mais a préféré, bien au contraire, se projeter avec enthousiasme dans l’avenir. “La marche athlétique et ses règles ont énormément évolué au cours des quelque vingt années depuis que je suis impliqué dans ce sport. Et si on se reporte encore plus loin en arrière, disons quarante ans, les différences sont encore plus criantes. “Dans ma spécialité par exemple, le 50km, il est évident que les marcheurs vont beaucoup plus vite de nos jours, et il est donc tout à fait approprié que nous fassions appel à la technologie pour faire respecter le règlement. “Il est certes complexe de juger de manière exacte et équitable tous les marcheurs d’une même course parce qu’il s’agit d’une discipline technique, mais la technologie - les appareils GPS en particulier - peut nous venir en aide, et je suis vraiment ouvert à toutes les nouvelles idées qui pourront nous aider à progresser.“Je pense que nous, marcheurs, devons changer avec le temps, à l’image d’autres sportifs, tels que les triathlètes.”Alors même que Garcia s’exprimait au cours de la traditionnelle conférence de presse qui précédait la 26e édition de la Coupe du monde de marche de l’IAAF, il se déroulait, devant la bibliothèque municipale de Taicang, une épreuve locale réservée aux cadets et juniors qui incorporait une mesure règlementaire test innovante&nbsp;: un “arrêt aux stands” imposé aux athlètes ayant écopé d’un certain nombre d’avertissements, qui étaient ainsi pénalisés par une sanction au niveau du chronomètre, plutôt que par une disqualification. Ces règles ne sont pas à date ratifiées pour la compétition internationale, mais elles seront examinées par le Comité de marche de l’IAAF lors d’une réunion à Taicang, lundi (5).&nbsp;“Quelle que soit l’issue des débats autour de ces propositions de nouvelles règles, pour moi, je pense que cela démontre surtout que l’IAAF est ouverte à toute nouvelle idée pouvant rendre notre sport plus attrayant, a déclaré à ce propos Paul Hardy, le directeur des Compétitions de l’IAAF. “Personnellement, c’est une idée qui me plaît parce qu’il peut être très décourageant pour un jeune marcheur de se voir disqualifier de plusieurs courses. Nous nous penchons aussi sur d’autres innovations technologiques qui pourraient contribuer à élargir l’attrait de la marche athlétique et à en faire respecter les règles davantage encore.”Et qui parierait contre le fait que Garcia pourrait toujours être là pour mettre lui-même à l’épreuve ces diverses nouveautés&nbsp;? “Oui, je suis peut-être bien le Peter Pan de la marche – celui qui ne vieillit jamais, a-t-il dit en éclatant de rire. Il arrivera sans doute que je me réveille un jour en me sentant vieux, mais ce n’est pas encore le cas, ça c’est certain. J’adore cette discipline, et c’est cette passion qui me motive depuis plus de vingt ans&nbsp;: la marche, et l’athlétisme de manière générale, j’ai vraiment ça dans la peau&nbsp;! ”Garcia a aussi plaisanté en se comparant au légendaire rocker Mick Jagger, mais, s’est-il empressé de préciser, plus pour le fait qu’il soit toujours, après une si longue carrière, au plus haut niveau, plutôt que pour ses talents de chanteur&nbsp;! Il ne s’est toutefois pas fait prier pour fredonner le refrain d’un morceau célèbre d’une autre icône de la musique, le vétéran Bob Dylan, qui chantait dans les années 60 sa fameuse ballade The Times They Are a-Changin’.Les temps changent. En marche athlétique comme ailleurs…Phil Minshull, pour l’IAAF

If race walking needed a better spokesman for the discipline, it’s unlikely that it could do better than the eloquent and entertaining Jesus Angel Garcia, who will be contesting his 11th IAAF Race Walking World Cup when he stands at the start of the 50km event in Taicang on Saturday (3).

Garcia set to stand the test of time at Taicang 2014 

The impressive Taicang Library and Museum Centre, situated alongside the actual course itself, was the splendid venue for the traditional pre-event press conference ahead of the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup on Friday (2).Dignitaries and officials provided some warm words of welcome ahead of the largest Cup to be staged outside Europe – both in terms of IAAF Member Federations present and number of walkers competing – before handing over the stage to a selection of invited athletes.“The participation is 50% up on the last time the Cup was held in China, in Beijing back in 1995. This shows how this event has grown and the fact that athletics is a universal sport. It also sets the scene for two years when the athletics world’s eyes will be on China, with the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang next year, and also the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in 2015,” commented IAAF General Secretary Essar Gabriel.“Race walking is at the heart of Chinese athletics success. Of course, it was in walking that we won the first Olympic gold medal in athletics in 1992 and that has led to the discipline's popularity with the Chinese population in the last 20 years,” said vice president of Chinese Athletics Association Shen Chunde.“Taicang citizens have got a very strong sense of the fundamental values of sport,” added Du Xiaogang, Mayor of the Taicang Municipal Government, reflecting on why Taicang was a bidder for this year’s Cup.&nbsp;&nbsp;“They know it can lead to a long and high quality life. In fact, we have 65 citizens in the city who are over 100 years old! Events like this can have a long lasting impact on the city’s future development. Specifically, talking about race walking, we have had three years of a very successful IAAF Race Walking Challenge event here and our citizens, seeing race walking at the highest level, have their awareness raised about health and sport.”Athletics for a Better WorldIn addition to the main competitions this Saturday and Sunday, with five individual and team titles each at stake, a special Citizens Fitness Walking Activity, as part of the IAAF programme Athletics for a Better World, will take place in Taicang on Friday afternoon.More than 5000 race walkers will take part in a 2km race, over one circuit of the Cup course, and have been invited to donate their used sport’s apparel to the event’s nominated charity, the Taicang branch of the Red Cross.Pressure pointsHowever, to be expected, most of the media attention was focused on the five men and women who are expected to be among the medal contenders this weekend.Inevitably, the two Chinese guests, Olympic 20km champion Chen Ding and three-time IAAF World Championships medallist Liu Hong, were asked about what it will feel like to perform in front of a home audience.“There is pressure, this is my third appearance at the Cup and I’ve had an (knee) injury this year, and it’s been a slow recovery. This time, I’m leading the Chinese team so there is a responsibility,” said Liu, somewhat seriously.By contrast, Chen was in a much more light-hearted mood and did not appear to have too many worries, despite his picture from his London 2012 triumph being plastered all over the city and being literally the poster boy of the Cup. “There is inevitable pressure, but let’s look back. In 2012 I won the Olympics, it was like a dream come true and that changed my life completely. But I went from the top to the bottom in the next 12 months with injuries. Since I got the silver medal in Moscow, I have been training very well, without any interruptions, so I expect to do well,” added Chen who, remarkably considering his success, is still only 21.Another athlete upon whom there is a pressure to perform is the Australian race walker Jared Tallent.After a plethora of silver and bronze medals at global events, he has the mantle of being the favourite for Saturday’s 50km race walk.Trending Tallent“There is a definite trend for me. This will be my sixth World Cup: I finished 75th in my first one in 2004, 14th, 10th, third and then second at the last one, two years ago in Saransk. In that respect, it’s a natural progression that I’ll win a gold here, but we will have to see,” said the affable Australian.“However, I have a special relationship with China. I got two medals at the Olympics in Beijing and I’ve always had outstanding performances here.”The two Spanish speakers on the podium were at the opposite ends of the age spectrum: Spain’s former Cup winner Jesus Angel Garcia, who is now 44 and who will be competing in his 11th Cup in Taicang, and Colombia’s 2012 Cup junior women’s winner Sandra Arenas who, at 20, was not even born when Garcia won his first Cup medal.“I’m very happy to be back in China. I won a silver medal when the Cup was here in 1995 and I think I may be the only ‘survivor’ of that race. I can also say I learnt a lot when I’ve raced in China,” said Garcia, paying tribute to the host nation of this year’s Cup.“Will this be my last Cup? Maybe, although I’m perhaps walking's answer to The Rolling Stones and I’m going to keep going for ever, never having a goodbye tour,” added the ever-quotable Spaniard.Arenas glanced occasionally at the evergreen Garcia, clearly wondering whether she was going to still be in the sport in 24 years’ time.Well, she might be if she keeps on winning, or manages a record like Garcia, who has placed in the top six of the 50km on nine of his 11 appearances.“I think I might cause a surprise again," said the diminutive Colombian. "I know the Chinese and Russians have been training hard, but so have I."Phil Minshull for the IAAF

The impressive Taicang Library and Museum Centre, situated alongside the actual course itself, was the splendid venue for the traditional pre-event press conference ahead of the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup on Friday (2).

Press conference highlights – IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014

Familiar foes are ready to do battle at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang over the coming weekend (3-4) as China and Russia once again stand out as main contenders for the individual and team gold medals in the two senior men’s events.<o:p></o:p>The hosts will be especially motivated in their own back yard, as they demonstrated last time the Cup was played out on Chinese soil, in Beijing back in 1995.<o:p></o:p>Back then, they secured a hat-trick of victories in the men’s senior races to announce their arrival as a global race walking powerhouse, and there is no reason to suggest they can’t repeat the feat although the mighty neighbour should certainly have something to say about that.<o:p></o:p>In the men’s 20km, Russia has three men with career bests faster than the benchmark of 1:20:00, although these days even breaking 80 minutes is unlikely to garner many medals at major races.<o:p></o:p>However, in Aleksandr Ivanov, even though he ‘only’ has a best of 1:20:44, they have an athlete at the top of his game. <o:p></o:p>The current world champion, who celebrated his 21st birthday last Friday, nicked 12 seconds off his best at the Russian Winter Race Walking Championships in Sochi in March.<o:p></o:p>Andrey Ruzavin has a best almost three minutes quicker than that, although he and the others have kept their powder relatively dry this year with more moderate times until now, perhaps.<o:p></o:p>China can boast of having the current Olympic champion on their 20km starting line, the guitar-strumming Chen Ding, whose famed Italian coach Sandro Damilano reckons his charge only hits the right note for big ones.<o:p></o:p>Chen has yet to show in 2014, but with a personal best 1:17:40 and a championship record that also includes a silver medal at the 2013 IAAF World Championships last year, he certainly can’t be discounted.<o:p></o:p>The partisan crowd is expected to help orchestrate a win in the team competition and if Chen were to hit a bum note, you can take your pick out of Cai Zelin, Wang Zhen, who filled places three and four at the London 2012 Olympic Games, or the more recently arrived Bian Tongda.<o:p></o:p>Bian, 22, won the Chinese national title in March and set his best on the same Taicang course in 2013. <o:p></o:p>If Russia and China are to slip up, who among the rest is ready to capitalise?<o:p></o:p>Based on form, it might not be necessity to look any further than Japan, who has never won a medal of any description in the history of the Cup. <o:p></o:p>Yusuke Suzuki set a Japanese record for the second year running when he walked 1:18:17 in February. <o:p></o:p>Far from being the rabbit at major events that he once was, Suzuki now has power and belief to stay with the leaders for the entire race. <o:p></o:p>Compatriots Isamu Fujisawa, Koiricho Morioka and Takumi Saito have all walked swift 2014 races, and Eiki Takahashi is the 21-year-old new kid on the block. Japan’s rising son saw him take a nearly two minutes off his previous best when coming second to Suzuki at Kobe. <o:p></o:p>Given the Japanese team has the least travel time to Taicang, and is used to weather being on much the same latitude, it suggests that a team bronze, if not better, is theirs for the taking.<o:p></o:p>Of the outsiders, Poland has entered a strong unit befitting the country of race walking legend Robert Korzeniowski, the multiple Olympic and world champion.<o:p></o:p>Rafal Fedaczynski set a personal best 1:20:18 when coming second at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge race in Podebrady last month, which is not bad for a 33-year-old, slicing nearly a minute off his best.<o:p></o:p>It’s been a long time coming, but India too are on the march.<o:p></o:p>In fact, for a nation whose population is only slightly behind that of the hosts, it’s a surprise they have failed to produce top walkers until now, but they now have four with a decent pedigree. <o:p></o:p>Basanta Bahadur Rana has a best of 1:21:29, and there four others who should be there or thereabouts, providing they don’t let the occasion get to them.<o:p></o:p>Nerves will not be an issue for Matej Toth. The Slovakian race walker broke his previous best when he won on home soil in Dudince in March, crossing the line in 1:19:48 at Dudince.<o:p></o:p>The 2010 World Cup winner over 50km knows all about heat which he conquered to triumph in Chihuahua four years ago.<o:p></o:p>Fifth in last August’s World Championships, the former journalism student is in the shape to also write his name into the 20km record book.<o:p></o:p>Among possibly the more distant outsiders worth a mention is Kevin Campion. The Frenchman has eaten into his own best this year while Hyunsub Kim, from Korea, won the Asian Championships in Japan earlier this year with a national record 1:19:24.<o:p></o:p>Ivan Losev and Nazar Kovalenko, from Ukraine, have likewise posted good times and are among six men who have gone under 80 minutes this year.Time to the Tallent show?The men’s 50km kicks off the weekend at 8am local time on Saturday morning and is likely to be a war of attrition. He who blinks first suffers most. In recent World Cups, the last lap of the 25 2km revolutions has tended to produce a winner that underlined metronomic pace and a good stopwatch.Absent in Taicang is Ireland’s Moscow 2013 gold medallist Rob Heffernan, who has opted for the 20km as preparation for the European Championships, but this possibly leaves the way open for Australia’s Jared Tallent to finally stand tallest on the podium. The Australian has two Olympic Games silvers, two World Championship bronzes and a World Cup bronze and silver to go with a string of super-fast marks over 50km. He is missing only one thing: a gold medal.<o:p></o:p>The proud record proves the native Victorian rarely falters on the big stage, and is the out-and-out favourite in a city that he knows well and a venue he has graced many times over the past 10 years.<o:p></o:p>However, the trouble with finding form at the distance is there are few willing to walk it until they have to. <o:p></o:p>Marks for 2014 are scarce, although China’s Wang Zhendong’s 3:47:18 is one of them, even if he is still some way off Tallent’s 3:36:53 best.<o:p></o:p>Something of a guide to Russian chances was posted in Sochi last month when they picked the first three past the post in the Russian Winter Championships at the 35km distance. Moscow 2013 50km silver medallist Mikhail Ryzhov, Ivan Noskov and Alexey Bartsaykin got the nod, and the last is an intriguing entry. <o:p></o:p>Bartsaykin still holds the World Cup junior men’s 10km record set in 2008 but, despite only one moderate 50km mark to his name, maybe this is his chance to show the pedigree that saw him cut a swathe through the ranks as a youngster.<o:p></o:p>Italy has a reasonable team with the experienced Jean-Jacques Nkouloukidi and Federico Tontodonati the pick of their four. <o:p></o:p>A Mexican duo keep that nation’s great walking tradition alive while Ivan Banzeruk’s best of 3:47:35 is a single second faster than his Ukrainian teammate Serhiy Budza and offers hope the country can repeat their 2012 team bronze at this distance.<o:p></o:p>However, if there was to be an award for the most self-motivated walker at the World Cup, it would go hands down to Jesus Angel Garcia.<o:p></o:p>The Spaniard is competing in his 11th straight World Cup. He won it in 1997 when he blitzed through a snow storm in Podebrady and has a string of firsts in major competitions including IAAF World Championships gold in 1993, and has eight top-six finishes in the Cup.<o:p></o:p>With his unique high-arm punching style, Garcia – who will turn 45 in October – continually shows that age is no barrier.<o:p></o:p>Paul Warburton for the IAAF<o:p></o:p>

Familiar foes are ready to do battle at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang over the coming weekend (3-4) as China and Russia once again stand out as main contenders for the individual and team gold medals in the two senior men’s events.

Senior men's race preview – IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014

Look no further than the form guide in the women’s 20km at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang on Sunday (4).<o:p></o:p>The Chinese city, 60km north west of Shanghai, is no stranger to top class walking. Each year for the past 10, it has played host to an IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting in the first week of May, and now it has the opportunity to embrace a far wider stage with 35 IAAF Member Federations having entered athletes in this race but the 2km loop will be thronged with home fans who only have eyes for Liu Hong, and with some justification.<o:p></o:p>The 26-year-old is the fastest this year and broke the Asian record on the same course in 2012 with 1:25:46. <o:p></o:p>Unlike a fair number of her compatriots in the past, Liu also performs at her very best on a global stage.<o:p></o:p>Two IAAF World Championships bronze medals in 2009 and 2013, and a silver in 2011, testify to that. She has yet to break the tape in a major global race, although she will be hard pressed to get a better chance than this.<o:p></o:p>First, she won at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting in Lugano, Switzerland, on 16 March in 1:27:25, but what was really impressive was that she hit overdrive with a second half 43:13.<o:p></o:p>Liu rarely troubles the judges with a faultless style despite the ability to accelerate and, judging by her usual poker face, should easily cope with the expectant pressure form the home crowd. <o:p></o:p>Right behind her, just four seconds in arrears, in Lugano was the relative newcomer Eleonora Giorgi.<o:p></o:p>The Italian economics student was the last to drop off Liu’s coat tails and she posted a PB by more than two minutes – that’s about 450 metres quicker than previously.<o:p></o:p>It has been 12 years since an Italian senior won at the Cup, but Giorgi now has the confidence to stick with the leaders in Taicang, and views the event as important to her 2014 season as the European Championships in August. <o:p></o:p>No prizes for guessing which country has the next best three marks.Sochi provides Russian form guideOne used to look no further in World Cup year than the Russian Winter Championships in Sochi for the leading performances, but even though Anisya Kirdyapkina (1:28:05) Vera Sokolova (1:28:32) and Marina Pandakova (1:28:48) trail this time, the first two are no strangers to the world stage.<o:p></o:p>Kirdyapkina, wife of Olympic and former World Championship gold medallist Sergey, is a multiple world and European medallist, and was deprived of the then world record by a single second at the Russian Winter Championships in 2011.<o:p></o:p>The winner by a stride that day, with the race also in Sochi, was Sokolova, who was one of the few to double as a junior winner at the World Cup. The first victory was as long as 10 years ago in Naumberg, Germany, and it was followed by her second victory in La Coruna.<o:p></o:p>It is hard to see beyond these five for the individual medals or, indeed, when it come to the team prize, China or Russia.<o:p></o:p>Liu is backed by three team-mates with times ranking them in the world top 12 for 2014 but there should also be strong challenges from Spain with Julia Takacs spearheading their hopes, and previous World Cup medallists Portugal. Poland is yet to perform on a world stage but have in Agnieszka Dygacz someone with a best of 1:29:08 that should see them add to the throng at the front.<o:p></o:p>South American hopes will rest on Colombia’s Sandra Arenas, who snatched the junior women’s 10km gold medal from under the noses of her Russian hosts in Saransk two years ago.<o:p></o:p>This time, the rest will see her coming but there might not be much they can do about it if she finds the same determination and form that saw her win the South American track 20,000m title in March, when she clocked an impressive 1:31:46.9.<o:p></o:p>A winning mentality goes a long way when nerves of steel are required to overcome heat and other factors that leave mere mortals scrapping for the minor places further back down the road.<o:p></o:p>Paul Warburton for the IAAF<o:p></o:p>

Look no further than the form guide in the women’s 20km at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang on Sunday (4).

Senior women's race preview – IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014

Both the individual and team gold medals in the first three junior women’s 10km races at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup went to Russia, but results in the last two editions suggest the teenage red army is not the force it was.<o:p></o:p>In 2010, when the Cup was held in the Mexican city of Chihuahua, it was Italy’s Antonella Palmisano who came from nowhere to triumph. Two years later, with Russia hosting the event in Saransk, it was Colombia’s Sandra Arenas who left a pair of early Russian leaders ultimately trailing in her wake.<o:p></o:p>In Taicang on Sunday (4), at the 26th edition of the Cup, it will also be quite a surprise if Russia wins a fourth individual title.<o:p></o:p>Despite the 2014 world season lists, where she lies a modest fifth, the favourite is Czech Republic’s multi-talented Anezka Drahotova.<o:p></o:p>The strikingly tall athlete showed no fear to lead the IAAF World Championship 20km beyond the halfway point last August, and now boasts a fast 1:28:13 for the distance, as well as winning the IAAF Challenge event on home soil at Podebrady at the beginning of April.<o:p></o:p>She admitted to initially being undecided about whether to do the junior 10km or the senior 20km event in Taicang but, with it being impossible to double, eventually the girl who will be just 19 in June decided on the shorter event against her peer group, partly as preparation for the IAAF World Junior Championships in July, when she will contest the same distance but on the track in Eugene.<o:p></o:p>As well as being good enough to compete for her country at cycling, she won the 10,000m race walk gold medal at the 2013 European Junior Championships, while her twin sister Eliska, also competing in Taicang, took the bronze medal. <o:p></o:p>In a rare combination of events, Drahotova also made the European Junior final of the 3000m steeplechase in the Italian town of Rieti last summer and placed ninth. She has also notched up several significant victories in Czech road races, running rather than walking.<o:p></o:p>If there is to be a challenge to Drahotova, the likely contender is China’s Duan Dandan, who leads the 2014 junior rankings with a personal best of 43:31.<o:p></o:p>Duan was also one of the few here who was also in Saransk, where she placed eighth. This time she will be disappointed with anything but a medal.<o:p></o:p>Barring disaster, the hosts seem to be on course for the team gold medal, regaining the title they won in 2010 when they interrupted Russia’s winning streak, with Yang Jiayu (44:16) and Hailu Cun (45:36) also re-writing their own bests earlier in the year.<o:p></o:p>As ever, Russia should be up with the leaders, but their team, chosen as a result of the Russian Winter Championships in Sochi, are inexperienced newcomers.<o:p></o:p>Times faster than 44 minutes have regularly been posted by the winners down on the Black Sea resort, but this year, in March, the European junior silver medallist Oksana Golyatkina, who was sandwiched between the two Drahotova sisters in Rieti, won in a more modest 45:16.<o:p></o:p>Russia&nbsp;surprisingly left out Sochi second-place finisher Nadezhda Mokeyeva, and instead selected the third woman home, Claudia Afanasieva, who has a best of 47:32, along with fourth-place finisher Anastasiya Chernova, who set a best of 48:16. But her inclusion only highlighted that, on paper, this is the weakest Russian trio in the 10-year history of the event. Experience an essential element?If experience counts for anything, then in the junior men’s 10km on Saturday (3), the individual gold medal should be contested between the host nation’s Gao Wenkui and Australia’s Jesse Osborne.Gao was in encouraging, but hardly breath-taking, form when finishing eighth in the 2012 Cup with 44:15. However, earlier this year, he bettered that mark by more than four minutes with 40:25. <o:p></o:p>At the speed these elite athletes travel, that’s almost a kilometre better.<o:p></o:p>In fact, the 18-year-old is a clear front runner in terms of 2014 times and 32 seconds better than team-mate Jie Jinzhu. <o:p></o:p>Next on the list is Japan’s Yuki Kurumisawa, and then Osborne who was a distant 44th in Saransk with 44:15 but now has a best of 41:27 set earlier this year.<o:p></o:p>After that, one could throw a blanket over the next 11 teenagers, so close are they on form and times.<o:p></o:p>The adrenaline will inevitably course through young veins as they go to the start line and, when some throw caution to the winds and try to stay with the leaders, they will pay with hefty interest over the final three kilometres.<o:p></o:p>If you have been there already, as Gao and Osborne have been, not to mention the improvements both have made since 2012, they should both be somewhere on the podium.<o:p></o:p>Who will join them? Well, 24 of the 41-strong field have sub-44-minute times to their name, which might make this the most exciting race of the weekend as far as picking a team, or even an individual winner.<o:p></o:p>China look good for team gold but who to choose as Russia’s first past the post with Nikolay Markov’s 42:07 for the year, tying with Maksim Krasnov, and Denis Sergeev just a second behind his team mates.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>The Spanish pair of Diego Garcia and Manuel Bermudez, along with Mexico’s Ricardo Ortiz, are also separated by just a few seconds in the world top 15. And should someone ask if there is a doctor in the house at the city 60km north west of Shanghai, they might well get told, “No, he is in the junior race".<o:p></o:p>Jose Luis Doctor, from Mexico, sports a healthy 42:21 going into the race that boosts hopes for a race walking nation steeped in success.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>Paul Warburton for the IAAF<o:p></o:p>

Both the individual and team gold medals in the first three junior women’s 10km races at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup went to Russia, but results in the last two editions suggest the teenage red army is not the force it was.

Junior race previews – IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014

More than USD 350,000 is on offer for the three senior races – the men’s and women’s 20km, and the men’s 50km – from the IAAF as prize money at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, Taicang, China on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May 2014.Prize money * Individuals (total USD 210,000) 1st - 30,000 2nd - 15,000 3rd - 10,000 4th - 7000 5th - 5000 6th - 3000 In the event that an athlete breaks a world record during the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, a prize of USD 50,000 will be awarded.Team (total USD 157,500) per team: 1st - 15,000 2nd - 12,000 3rd - 9000 4th - 7500 5th - 6000 6th - 3000 Total prize money – USD 367,500 (There is no prize money for the two junior 10km races).Teams and entries Senior races Each IAAF Member Federation (MF) may enter a maximum of seven walkers; no more than five shall be allowed to start in the race with three to score.Each MF may enter a team in both the senior men’s races (20km or 50km) but no athlete may compete in both. Junior races Each MF may enter a maximum of five walkers; no more than three shall be allowed to start in the race with two to score. Individual entries Each MF can enter individual athletes in any of the races and the finishing athletes shall be eligible for the corresponding individual awards. ScoringEach race shall be scored separately. The team results shall be decided by the aggregate of places recorded by the scoring athletes of each team. The team with the lowest aggregate of points will be judged the winner. If a team fails to finish with a complete scoring team, the runners finishing shall be counted as individuals in the race result and be eligible for the individual awards. No adjustment to the scoring places of the finishing teams shall be made in respect of any non-scoring team athletes or of individual entries. In the event of a tie, it shall be resolved in favour of the team whose last scoring member finishes nearer to first place.Age categories Any athlete aged 18 or 19 years on 31 December in the year of the competition (i.e. for the 2014 Cup, born in 1995 or 1996) may compete in the senior 20km race or the junior race but NOT in the senior men’s 50km race. Any athlete aged 16 or 17 years on 31 December in the year of the competition (i.e. for the 2014 Cup, born in 1997 or 1998) may compete in the junior race ONLY. No athlete younger than 16 years of age on 31 December in the year of the competition (i.e. for the 2014 Cup, born in 1999 or later) may be entered. NOTE: * all awards are dependent upon athletes undergoing and clearing the usual anti-doping procedures IAAF

More than USD 350,000 is on offer for the three senior races – the men’s and women’s 20km, and the men’s 50km – from the IAAF as prize money at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, Taicang, China on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May 2014.


How much to win, who can race, and how many to score? – IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014

– Read on for English and
French language versions of this story
 – La traduction française suit le texte anglaisThere is little more than a week to go before the first starting gun fires at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, which will be held in the Chinese city of Taicang on 3-4 May.With no senior global outdoor championship this year, this is the most important event on the 2014 athletics calendar for race walkers and many of the world’s top stars of the discipline will be making their way to China for the event.Russia’s world 20km race walk champion Aleksandr Ivanov, Ireland’s Moscow 2013 50km winner Robert Heffernan and China’s Olympic champion Chen Ding will clash in the shorter of the two senior men’s championship distances.The senior men’s 50km race features Russia’s Mikhail Ryzhov, Australia’s three-time Olympic medallist Jared Tallent, who took the silver and bronze medals in Moscow last summer.The senior women’s 20km features seven of the top 10 from Moscow, including Russia’s Anisya Kirdyapkina and China’s Liu Hong, the silver and bronze medallists respectively.In the junior 10km races, all eyes will be on the Czech teenage talent Anezka Drahotova, who won the European junior title over the same distance on the track last summer.Nearly 400 walkers from 50 IAAF Member Federations have been entered across the five races to be contested.Entry lists as of 24 April are now available (pdf) from IAAF website from <a href="http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-race-walking-cup">this page</a> (see EVENT INFORMATION). <a></a>The IAAF World Race Walking Cup is the third of the five IAAF World Athletics Series events in 2014, and this year also sees the inaugural edition of the IAAF World Relays.IAAFCoupe du monde de Marche de l’IAAF, Taicang 2014
– À une semaine de l’ouverture Il reste un peu plus d’une semaine avant l’ouverture
de la Coupe du monde de Marche de l’IAAF 2014, qui se tiendra dans la ville
chinoise de Taicang les 3 et 4 mai. En l’absence de championnats mondiaux seniors
cette année, cette manifestation est la plus importante du programme 2014 pour
l’univers de la marche athlétique, et on y attend de nombreuses stars de la
discipline. Ainsi, le champion du monde russe du 20km,
Aleksandr Ivanov, l’Irlandais champion du monde du 50km à Moscou en 2013 et le
Chinois Chen Ding, champion olympique en titre, seront aux prises sur la plus
courte des deux distances masculines seniors. Dans le 50km masculin, on pourra notamment admirer
les foulées du Russe Mikhail Ryzhov et de l’Australien Jared Tallent, le triple
médaillé olympique, qui a remporté une médaille d’argent et une autre de bronze
aux Mondiaux de Moscou l’été dernier.Le 20km féminin, lui, rassemblera sept des dix
premières du classement de Moscou, dont la Russe Anisya Kirdyapkina et la
Chinoise Liu Hong, respectivement médaillées d’argent et de bronze à cette
occasion. Dans le 10km juniors féminin, l’attention sera
surtout focalisée sur la talentueuse Tchèque Anezka Drahotova, championne
d’Europe junior sur piste sur cette distance l’été dernier. Au total, près de 400 marcheurs de 50 Fédérations
membres de l’IAAF sont inscrits dans les cinq épreuves prévues. Les Listes de compétiteurs à la date du 24
avril sont disponibles au format PDF sur le site internet de l’IAAF à partir de <a href="http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-race-walking-cupttp://">cette page</a> <a></a>(voir&nbsp;EVENT INFORMATION).La Coupe du monde de Marche de l’IAAF est la
troisième des cinq épreuves de la Série mondiale de l’athlétisme de l’IAAF de 2014,
une année qui compte également l’édition inaugurale des Relais mondiaux de
l’IAAF IAAF

There is little more than a week to go before the first starting gun fires at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, which will be held in the Chinese city of Taicang between 3-4 May.

IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014 – one week to go

The preliminary entry lists for the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, which will be held in the Chinese city of Taicang between 3-4 May, are now available.<o:p></o:p>The entry lists can be downloaded from the EVENT INFORMATION section on the IAAF World Race Walking Cup competition page of the IAAF website, which can be accessed <a href="http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-race-walking-cup">here</a>.<o:p></o:p>Note: the entry lists are as of 24 April and final entries will be confirmed at the technical meeting on Friday 2 May.IAAF<o:p></o:p>

The preliminary entry lists for the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, which will be held in the Chinese city of Taicang between 3-4 May, are now available.

Preliminary entry lists now available – IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014

It has been 12 years since an Italian woman won a senior medal at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, but young talent Eleonora Giorgi could be the athlete to end that drought.The 24-year-old grabbed the headlines last month at the Memorial Mario Albisetti in Lugano when she smashed her personal best by more than two minutes, winning in 1:27:29 to become the third-fastest Italian race walker in history and the second-fastest woman in the world this year.She covered the first half in 44:14 and the second in 43:15, both significantly quicker than her official 10km PB of 45:19.The only Italian women to have clocked faster times over the 20km distance are 1996 Olympic silver medallist Elisabetta Perrone and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Elisa Rigaudo.“In Lugano I planned to change my tactic and walk in the front,” said Giorgi after finishing just four seconds behind three-time World Championships medallist Liu Hong, who clocked a world-leading 1:27:25. “Staying in the leading group is totally different to the come-from-behind races I was used to do in the past. Walking with the leaders gave me a great feeling and I could feel the support from the fans during the race.“I feel proud to be named in the same sentence as Italian walkers like Perrone, [Erica] Alfridi and Rigaudo,” added Giorgi. “Taicang will be my main goal of the year. I hope to improve my best time and come close to the Italian record held by Betty Perrone. The Lugano performance makes me dream about the World Cup but I am aware that I have a lot of work to do because my discipline is highly competitive.” &nbsp;Giorgi dedicated her personal best in Lugano to Alfridi, the last Italian race walker to win the World Cup when the event was held on home soil in Turin in October 2002. “I have a very good relationship with Alfridi who was also coached by [1995 world silver medallist Giovanni] Perricelli in the last years of her career. She is a very good friend and always gives me a lot of advice.”Latest in a long line of Italian race walking talentsIn China next month, Giorgi will be looking to continue the strong Italian tradition at the World Race Walking Cup, following in the footsteps of other Italian athletes who previously reached the podium, including 1981 20km bronze medallist Alessandro Pezzatini, 1985 20km silver medallist Maurizio Damilano, 1961 50km champion Abdon Pamich, 1977 50km bronze medallist Paolo Gregucci, 1981 50km bronze medallist Sandro Bellucci, 2008 50km silver medallist Alex Schwazer,1989 10km bronze medallist Ileana Salvador, 2002 20km champion Erica Alfridi and 2010 junior 10km winner Antonella Palmisano.European under-23 bronze medallist Palmisano will join Giorgi in a young Italian team for this year’s World Cup. They are just two of several promising Italian race walking talents at the moment, alongside other prospects such as 2010 Olympic Youth champion Anna Clemente, European junior silver medallist Vito Minei and world youth bronze medallist Noemi Stella.Giorgi’s breakthrough performance wasn’t entirely unexpected after a brilliant winter season in which she broke a long-standing Italian indoor 3000m record with a world-leading 11:50:08 at the Italian Indoor Championships in Ancona, taking more than three seconds off the mark set 12 years ago by 1993 world silver medallist Ileana Salvador.“I could not believe that I managed to improve a long-standing best time by Ileana Salvador, a legend of Italian athletics,” said Giorgi. “It was thrilling to walk faster than Erica Alfridi, Betty Perrone and Anna Rita Sidoti who dominated on the world stage for many years.“But what surprises me most is that I did not prepare for that race and I did not plan this record. My goal was just to dip under 12 minutes but I became aware of the record after each lap when I heard my coach Gianni Perricelli in the stands giving me the split times. I realised in the final 500m that I could break the record. The 3000m is like a sprint for me, but the speed helps me to walk faster in the 20km.”Perricelli was the first to congratulate Giorgi on the achievement. “I remember the Italian record set by Salvador 22 years ago in Genoa as I attended that edition of the European Indoor Championships,” he said. “I felt emotional when Eleonora managed to break the record held by an athlete who won many International medals.“The big results achieved this year are due to a more intense work load in training and to less time recovery. Hard work is bearing its fruits this year,” added Perricelli. “We are happy with the result in Lugano but we are aware that there is a lot of work to do. We will work to improve the movement of her shoulders and arms. We will continue in this direction before Taicang.”Progression from runner to race walkerGiorgi, who was born in Milan and grew up in Cabiate near Como, started her athletics career in 2004 as a middle-distance runner but she switched to race walking events in 2007 after an injury.“Running was my first love,” she said. “I started running in cross-country competitions at school. I began walking in 2007 after a tendon injury which prevented me from running.”She soon showed promising results as a race walker under the guidance of her first coach Vittorio Zeni competing for the local athletics club Atletica Lecco Colombo Costruzioni. She finished 18th in the 10km at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Bydszgosz. She then finished 11th at the 2009 European Under-23 Championships and fifth at the 2011 edition.But she started to make significant progress in 2010 when she began training under the guidance of Perricelli. Her boyfriend Matteo Giupponi, the 2007 European junior silver medallist and 2009 European under-23 bronze medallist, also trains in the same group.“I personally asked Perricelli to train me when I joined the Fiamme Azzurre military team in 2010,” she said. “I knew Gianni was a great athlete and a great coach. We have a good relationship based on trust.”Her breakthrough season was 2012 when she achieved the Olympic qualifying standard, first at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting in La Coruna and then again at the World Race Walking Cup in Saransk with 1:32:57. She went on to finish 14th at the Olympic Games in London at the age of 22, setting a personal best of 1:29:48.“The London Olympics was my best competition ever as it was my first big international race against the best walkers in the world,” said Giorgi. “I watched many of them before, but only on television. I didn’t feel tired during the race and the crowd cheered on all the athletes, regardless of their nationality.”One year later she won the 20km at Mediterranean Games in Mersin before finishing 10th at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow in a race where compatriot Elisa Rigaudo finished fifth.“I started training for this season last November and I prepared for 20 days in San Diego (California) last January in a place where Perricelli trained 22 years ago,” she says.She has been balancing her training with her studies in economics at the prestigious Bocconi University in Milan. “I am finishing my exams and I am planning to get the specialist degree in economics of public administration and international institutions before the end of the year,” said Giorgi. “It’s not easy to combine high-level sport with the demands of university studies but I manage to organise my time to do both successfully.”Her summer season is focused on the European Championships in Zurich where she could be one of the best Italian medal hopes in what is expected to be a large national team with a mixture of young and experienced athletes“My race in Zurich is scheduled on 14 August. Fourteen is my favourite number as I was born on 14 September 1989 and I finished 14th at the Olympic Games in London.”And this year, 2014, looks set to be a good one for Giorgi.Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

It has been 12 years since an Italian woman won a senior medal at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, but young talent Eleonora Giorgi could be the athlete to end that drought.

Giorgi hopes to keep Italian race walking tradition alive in Taicang

Czech Republic’s rising home star Anezka Drahotova, who is still a junior, and Slovakia’s experienced Matej Toth took the honours at the Podebrady 2014 meeting on Saturday (12), the eighth of this year’s 12 events which count towards the 2014 IAAF Race Walking Challenge.Both walkers, who coincidentally clinched their wins in the 17th kilometre of their 20km races in the in central Bohemian spa town, also definitely pressed their medal potential at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, which will be held in the Chinese city of Taicang on 3-4 May. Getting the biggest cheers was obviously Drahotova, the first Czech woman to win in Podebrady after Lucie Pelantova in 2010, with the latter finishing second in the Czech championship on this occasion.A leading group of five was established in the early stages of the women’s race, which included Drahotova. However, with the Prague Half Marathon still in her legs from last Saturday, and unlike her performance at last summer’s IAAF World Championships when she audaciously led the field for more than half the race, she was content to wait in the pack and letting her rivals to make the pace.Just after 16km, with the leading group down to three, Drahotova decided that was her moment to put her foot on the accelerator and made her successful attack, uncorking a 4:16 kilometre after the pace had oscillated between 4:28 and the low 4:30s.Further fast laps of the 1km course followed with her clocking 4:11, 4:19 and 4:16 for the final three circuits, before she crossed the line in 1:29:43.Although it was more than a minute outside her national record and 2014 world junior leading time of 1:28:13 from Lugano, Switzerland, last month, it was still a solid performance form the Prague University Sports Club athlete, especially in the relatively warm conditions for the time of year. &nbsp;&nbsp;“It wasn’t that easy as it might look like,” said the 18-year-old winner. “But I was really surprised what a solid pace I could keep. My coach (Ivo Pitak) was slowing me down at the beginning to go for a more tactical race. This was a good test before European Championships, and I want to thank the Lithuanian (Aidietyte) Neringa, who took the pace. <div class="quote">“Since I felt surprisingly comfortable, I could speed up in last kilometres and I was trying to set a good time for the organisers. In the end, I am happy to bring them time under 1:30 and win as well,” added Drahotova. </div>The win saw Drahotova move up to equal fourth in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge standings with 10 points from her two races in the series.Her next goal is to win the junior 10km in Taicang, and the 2013 European junior champion in the 10,000m race walk on the track will be one of the favourites for the title.Brazil’s Erica de Sena hung on for second place, exactly a minute and just under 250 metres behind Drahotova, in 1:30:43. She improved her national record for the second time in a week. Eight days ago, she held the Brazilian national record with 1:31:53, clocked in 2012, but she raced to a time of 1:31:22 in the Portuguese event in Rio Maior last Saturday and improved that mark by another 39 seconds in Podebrady.Neringa took third with 1:30:54, which was also a personal best.Toth triumphs againFive wins, spread between years 2003 and 2014, make Matej Tóth one of the most successful competitors in history of the event, which had its 82nd edition this year. The 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup 50km winner also decided that the 17th kilometre was a good moment to make a push for home and he managed to put daylight between himself and Poland’s Rafal Fedaczynski, his last opponent in the fight for another victory.With hands above his head in celebration, his last win coming two years ago, Matej crossed the line in 1:20:00; just shy of his recent personal best of 1:19:48 set across the border on home soil in Dudince last month.“It was a bit tougher than last time in Dudince,” admitted Toth. “I had to keep an eye on my rivals, but it was good preparation for the World Cup and I’m happy for the win. The 17th kilometre is a good point to attack, because the last kilometre can always be a danger; even a walker with weaker PB can do a strong finish.“I tried to speed up a bit and Rafal couldn’t respond, then I enjoyed the emotions of winning. I must say, this race is matter of my heart and I always like to come back. I saw world class walking for the first time here, when I was 14 at the 1997 World Cup; that’s when my dreams about finishing on top of the podium started, and now those dreams are coming true,” he added with a smile.The win also took Toth to the top of the 2014 IAAF Race Walking Challenge standings with 16 points.Toth is going to Taicang to do the 20km and then he will prepare for the 50km event at the European Championships. His goals, as a world class athlete, must be medals at both events, he observed.Fedaczynski took second place just 18 seconds behind Toth in 1:20:18 while Ukraine’s Andriy Kovenko, now 40, edged away from the other candidates for a place on the podium in the last three kilometres for third in 1:20:26, just six seconds outside his recent personal best. Slovakia’s Miroslav Uradník and Italy’s Noemi Stella won the junior 10km races with times of 42:01 and 47:11 respectively.Michal Procházka for the IAAF

Czech Republic’s rising home star Anezka Drahotova, who is still a junior, and Slovakia’s experienced Matej Toth took the honours at the Podebrady 2014 meeting on Saturday (12), the eighth of this year’s 12 events which count towards the 2014 IAAF Race Walking Challenge.

WORLD ATHLETICS RACE WALKING TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dmytrenko takes heart from team-mates' successes to triumph in Taicang

Dmytrenko gets historic and 'miraculous' gold for Ukraine – senior men's 20km report Taicang 2014

Duan and Yang make it a perfect start to the day for China – junior women's 10km report Taicang 2014

Kirdyapkina finally finds the midas touch – senior women's 20km report Taicang 2014

Gao provides hosts with first gold medal – junior men's 10km report Taicang 2014