Maria Perez in Podebrady (© Sona Maleterova)
A huge array of talent will gather at the Gran Premio Cantones de Marcha – the second Spanish leg of this season’s World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold – on Saturday (7).
The competition in La Coruna, a city which has annually hosted this world-class competition since 1987, again offers a star-studded field worthy of a major championships contest.
The women’s race will close the programme for the first time and the cast is of the highest calibre, including the full podium from the Madrid 10km held on Sunday. On that occasion, Mexico’s Alegna Gonzalez became an overwhelming victor in a course record and PB of 43:06, which indicates she’s in the form of her life. The 26-year-old has managed her two quickest 20km performances in La Coruna over the last couple of seasons thanks to respective times of 1:26:59 for third (2023) and 1:26:57 for second (2024), her progression suggesting she is ready to battle for the win this year.
Yet the Paris Olympics fifth-place finisher will face stiff opposition from top race walkers such as Italy’s Antonella Palmisano and Spain’s Maria Perez. They recently clashed in Podebrady over 35km, the victory going to the double world champion in Budapest, Perez, who finished 36 seconds clear of the Tokyo Olympic 20km gold medallist Italian – 2:38:59 to a 2:39:35 national record.
They both will tackle the 20km distance for the first time in 2025 after excelling last season as the 29-year-old Perez took Olympic 20km silver and mixed relay gold while Palmisano succeeded on home soil by capturing the European title in Rome. While Perez’s lifetime best is 1:25:30, the 33-year-old Italian’s PB stands at 1:26:36 set back in 2017 in London.
In the absence through injury of the Olympic 20km champion Yang Jiayu, the Chinese athletes should be led by the former world record-holder Liu Hong. The now 38-year-old ace will compete on Saturday exactly 10 years and one day after breaking the world record with a 1:24:38 clocking in La Coruna, a mark that remains the course record.
Her 22-year-old compatriot Peng Li boasts a career best of 1:27:26 and finished third in Madrid last weekend behind Gonzalez and Paris Olympics eighth-place finisher Evelyn Inga, who is also on show alongside her Peruvian compatriot Kimberly Garcia, the 2022 double world champion. Garcia claimed back-to-back titles here in 2023 (PB of 1:26:40) and 2024 (1:26:41), but the 31-year-old will need to better her season's best of 1:28:30 set when finishing second in Warsaw five weeks ago to assault the podium. Ecuador's Paula Milena Torres, a surprise victor there, will also be on show.
Spain’s Antia Chamosa should be regarded as a dangerous outsider as the 25-year-old improved to 1:27:55 to take the national title in March and placed fourth in both Podebrady and Madrid, where she finished ahead of France’s Clemence Beretta, who was runner-up in Podebrady and is also in attendance in La Coruna.
Yamanishi aims to maintain momentum
The large 125-strong men’s 20km event features the first 20 finishers from Sunday’s Madrid Marcha held over 10km, headed by Japan’s world 20km race walk record-holder Toshikazu Yamanishi. The Doha and Oregon world champion remains unbeaten so far this season and he kicked off his campaign with a stunning world record performance in Kobe on 16 February, clocking 1:16:10. He continued his winning days in Warsaw, also over 20km, and then won the Madrid contest on Sunday in 38:50 after a blistering last lap to defeat Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, who will also be in attendance in La Coruna on Saturday afternoon.
Last year’s podium proved to be of the highest calibre as the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Yamanishi took his second victory in Cantones following his success in 2019 when the 29-year-old set the current course record of 1:17:41. The now retired Spaniard Alvaro Martin was second and Bonfim completed the star-studded top three. The 34-year-old Brazilian has recently improved his lifetime bests over 20km, thanks to his 1:17:37 effort in Kobe, and 10km, courtesy of his 38:55 clocking last weekend on a tough circuit. Saturday’s race will mark the in-form Bonfim’s sixth 20km appearance this year, his results topped by that national record in Kobe and a fine wine in Rio Maior in April.
Yet the big surprise could come from Spain’s Paul McGrath as the 22-year-old European silver medallist showed impressive fitness at the European Team Championships in Podebrady three weeks ago, when he secured a commanding victory in 1:18:05, his second-quickest ever performance. Fully recovered from the minor niggles which prevented him from competing in Madrid as a precautionary measure, the emerging McGrath expressed earlier this week his goal of fighting for everything on Saturday.
The Italian tandem of Massimo Stano and Francesco Fortunato will also be on the hunt for a demanding podium spot. The Tokyo Olympics 20km champion Stano is the newly-minted world 35km record holder (2:20:43), a feat he managed in Podebrady when he shattered Evan Dunfee’s previous mark by the handsome margin of 57 seconds just 57 days after the Canadian became world record-holder in Dudince. Dunfee, fifth in Madrid, also improved his 20km career best in Adelaide with a 1:17:39 performance.
As for Fortunato, he pushed Stano to the line at the Italian 10,000m Championships in April when both recorded quick times of 37:33:03 and 37:34.90, respectively. More recently, the 30-year-old Fortunato set a massive 20km career best of 1:18:16 in Podebrady when he was only beaten by McGrath and he took fourth in Madrid on Sunday with a 39:06 performance. France’s Gabriel Bordier should also be a factor, having excelled in Podebrady by finishing a fine third also in a huge PB of 1:18:23.
Meanwhile, the usual large Chinese squad will be led by Cui Lihong who set a lifetime best of 1:17:33 in Taicang. He will be joined by Li Chenjie and Hu Xuanfei, and they should improve on their respective places in Madrid – ninth and 13th – to be in the mix here. Watch out for the in-form Mexican Ricardo Ortiz as he set the pace for much of the race in Madrid to finally finish third, just ahead Fortunato.
In addition to Yamanishi, the Japanese contingent also includes Satoshi Maruo, holder of a season’s best of 1:17:24, plus Ryo Hamanishi (1:17:53), Kazuki Takashashi (1:18:23) and Yuta Koga (1:18:26). Ethiopia's Misgana Wakuma, who clocked 1:18:32 in the altitude of Addis Ababa in May, will also be looking for a top 10 finish.
Spain’s 2015 world 20km champion Miguel Angel Lopez, fresh from a national 35km record of 2:23:48 in Podebrady to finish third, is also in action along with Alvaro Lopez, who dipped under the 1:20 barrier for the first time on that occasion, and the two-time European 20km medallist Diego Garcia.
Weather forecasters predict a sunny and slightly windy day, with temperatures in the 17-19°C range by the time of the competition.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
