Perseus Karlstrom wins in Dublin (© Sportsfile)
World silver medallist Perseus Karlstrom gave early notice of his Olympic ambitions with a stunning 1:18:39 clocking to win the 20km at the opening leg of the World Athletics Race Walking Tour at St Anne’s Park in Dublin – a Bronze level meeting – on Sunday (17).
On a day with pleasant weather more akin to spring or early summer than the week before Christmas in Ireland, just under 250 athletes from 27 countries competed at the event.
Karlstrom had a battle on his hands for almost all of the way as Mexican Olympian Noel-Ali Chama and Finland’s Veli-Matti Partanen – who set a national record to finish sixth in Budapest –were determined not to let the Swede have things his own way.
The pace was red hot from the gun, with Karlstrom part of an early big group clocking 8:07 for the first two kilometres before increasing the pace with a 7:58 split for the next two-kilometre segment. The lead pack reached 5km in 20:01 looking comfortable and ready turn the screw even further.
The next 5km was covered in 19:38, giving the leaders a half-way split of 39:39. Karlstrom then broke away and covered the second half in a negative split (39:00), coming home in 1:18:39 – the second fastest 20km ever recorded on Irish soil behind Nathan Deakes’ 1:18:14 clocking back in 2001.
“It was a crazy day, but I felt good, and with the great conditions I decided to just go for it,” said Karlstrom after clocking the fastest ever 20km performance achieved in the month of December. “Ending up with a sub-1:19 and the third-fastest time of my career was definitely a surprise considering I’m in the base building period of the season.”
Behind Karlstrom, there was an exciting battle between Chama and Partanen before the Mexican found an additional gear over the final laps to take second in a PB and Olympic qualifying time of 1:20:05.
The Finn, too, was satisfied with his 1:20:33 clocking ahead of 2021 European U23 silver medallist David Kenny of Ireland who clocked 1:21:38, the second-fastest time of his career.
There were a number of personal bests throughout the field, showing the true value of the World Race Walking Tour in having races taking places in December.
There was much anticipation around the debut of the marathon race walk mixed relay – due to make its debut at the Paris Olympics – which exceeded expectations.
Hana Burzalova poised to overtake Kate Veale in the marathon race walk mixed relay in Dublin (© Sportsfile)
Each team comprises a man and a woman. They have to cover the marathon distance of 42.195km, covering two legs each with a minimum of 10km per leg. The men started with a 12.195km leg, then there were three subsequent legs of 10km.
Ultimately, the event couldn’t have been more unpredictable and came right down to the wire.
After the first 12.195km leg, Finland’s Jerry Jokinen had the lead, followed by Slovakia, Hungary and Ireland. The large home crowd got behind Ireland’s 2011 world U18 champion Kate Veale, who took over from three-time Olympian Brendan Boyce and hauled back the Finns, Slovakians and Hungarians to hand back over to Boyce with a lead of more than a minute.
The lead changed again on the next leg with Finland’s Jokinen putting in another strong effort to move into first place. Clearly benefitting from the support of the home crowd, Veale regained the lead for Ireland on the penultimate stage and led for 7km of her final leg, only to be reeled in by Slovakia’s Hana Burzalova, who came through to win in 3:11:17.
Ireland finished second in 3:11:48, more than four minutes ahead of Finland (3:16:11) with Hungary a minute further back.
The result puts Slovakia and Ireland in sixth and seventh place respectively on the road to Paris. 22 of the 25 teams for the Paris Olympics will qualify via the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya in April with another three places remaining open for the world lists.
In the women’s 20km, Slovakia’s Maria Czakova dominated the field to win in 1:31:42, her fastest time since 2018, and securing her qualification for the European Championships in Rome in June. Greek duo Panagiota Tsinopoulou and Olga Fiaska filled the remaining podium slots.
There was a Slovakian double in the U20 10km events with Ivana Dudova winning the women’s event in 50:51 while Jakub Batovsky looked impressive winning the men’s race in 46:37. The U18 women’s 5km race was won by Romania’s Alessia Pop in 23:49 ahead of Slovakia’s Petra Kusa (25:13) and Ireland’s Savanagh O’Callaghan (25:34).
Organisers for World Athletics
