World's best feature in stacked race walk fields for La Coruna

A vast array of talent will gather at the Gran Premio Cantones de Marcha – one of the two Spanish legs of this season’s World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold – on Saturday (18). The competition in La Coruna, a city which has annually hosted this world-class competition since 1987, again offers a top field worthy of a major championships contest.

Martin, Bonfim and Ikeda in wide open men’s event

The large 73-strong men’s 20km event features a mouth-watering line-up that includes the double world champion Alvaro Martin. The 29-year-old Spaniard kicked off his campaign at the Spanish Championships in February when he had to settle for the silver medal behind the emerging Paul McGrath, but his 1:18:35 clocking on that occasion suggests he is on the right path to fight for an Olympic medal at the Paris Olympics. That is his big target this season after confirming he will not defend his two European titles in Rome next month. 

At last month’s World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Martin – who won the 20km and 35km events at the World Championships in Budapest – also led one of the Spanish teams that qualified for Paris by placing third alongside Laura Garcia-Caro in the marathon race walk mixed relay. The Olympic fourth-place finisher is a two-time victor in La Coruna, having won in 2017 and 2022.

Yet Martin will face tough opposition, headed by last year’s winner in Cantones, world bronze medallist Caio Bonfim, and Japan’s Koki Ikeda. The latter is the Olympic silver medallist who set an outstanding career best and world-leading performance of 1:16:51 to win the national title in Kobe in February, while the Brazilian Bonfim is having a busy 2024 and has completed four 20km race walking contests so far, in addition to his presence in Antalya where he secured an Olympic mixed relay berth for his country in the company of Viviane Lyra. 

Individually, Bonfim opened 2024 with a national record of 1:17:44 in Taicang where he placed third and then he enjoyed a comfortable 1:22:49 win at the South American Championships in Recife. He followed that with third place in Podebrady last month and then a runner-up finish in Warsaw a couple of weeks ago timed at 1:19:17. 

Bonfim will clash again with the athletes who joined him on the podium in the Polish capital: China’s Qian Haifeng and Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi. The 23-year-old Qian holds a 1:18:51 lifetime best set in Taicang in March while the Japanese athlete, who clocked 1:19:37 in Warsaw, is an accomplished major championships performer having two world titles – from Doha 2019 and Oregon 2022 – to his name in addition to Olympic bronze. He will be joined by his compatriot Ryo Hamanishi, who was runner-up in Kobe in a PB of 1:17:42 but failed to place in the top spots in Antalya.

Spain’s two-time European medallist Diego Garcia Carrera should also be a factor on Saturday as Cantones is one of his favourite events, having won here in 2021 and set his career best of 1:18:58 in 2019. The 28-year-old is fresh from a brilliant third place in Antalya (1:19:51) and heads to La Coruna after a training stint in the altitude of Navacerrada. 

Miguel Angel Lopez, Marc Tur and Alvaro Lopez complete a strong Spanish team. Watch out too for Ecuador’s world 35km silver medallist Brian Pintado as he dominated the Rio Maior meeting last Saturday in 1:19:57, while the Chinese entry also includes Zhang Jun, who recently set a PB of 1:17:26 in Taicang, plus Li Yandong (1:17:47), Wang Zhaozhao (1:17:48), Cui Lihong (1:18:03) and Zhao Xiangfei (1:18:15).

Who can stop Garcia?

The women’s 20km contest will be held two hours before the men’s and the cast is also of the highest calibre. It is headed by the double world champion Maria Perez, however the 28-year-old Spaniard got injured – a stress fracture in the sacrum – shortly after her success in Budapest and underwent surgery last November. After her recovery, Perez returned to competition at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya where she competed in the mixed relay event alongside the 2015 world champion Miguel Angel Lopez. Apart from a 5000m track contest at a low-key national league event a fortnight ago when she took an easy win in 22:09.10, Saturday will mark Perez’s first individual appearance since 24 August when the world 35km record-holder followed her 20km title with a 35km win at the World Championships.

Yet Perez is still rounding into form – and she has confirmed her absence at the European Championships next month – so the status of favourite in La Coruna should go to Peru’s world 35km silver medallist Kimberly Garcia. The 30-year-old is the defending champion at this event and achieved a brilliant double at the 2022 World Championships. 

Due to illness, Garcia could not finish in Dudince but she then bounced back strongly with commanding victories in Podebrady with a 1:27:08 time and also in Antalya two weeks later thanks to a 1:27:12 performance. As recently as last Saturday, Garcia also won the Rio Maior meeting, her 1:30:35 clocking suggesting she had this weekend’s event on her radar. 

The whole Antalya 20km podium will be on show over the flat 1km circuit with China’s Ma Zhenxia and Brazil’s Erica Sena also lining up. Ma finished seventh in Budapest over 20km and improved her lifetime best to 1:26:07 when winning in Taicang. As for Sena, the evergreen 39-year-old will tackle her third 20km event in less than a month as she also competed in Rio Maior last week, coming third in 1:31:17 just behind Mexico’s Alejandra Ortega, also in contention on Saturday. Ortega will race walk in the company of her more illustrious compatriot Alegna González, who has placed in the top eight at the last three major championships and holds a 1:26:59 lifetime best set last year in Cantones when she finished third.

The never-ending list of top race walkers in contention also includes the first three athletes from the Warsaw meeting: the Chinese pair of former world record-holder Liu Hong and Qieyang Shijie, plus Australia’s world silver medallist Jemima Montag. Liu broke the world record here back in 2015 with a 1:24:38 performance and boasts a season’s best of 1:26:47 set in Taicang, while Montag clocked an Oceanian record of 1:27:09 in Adelaide in February. As for Qieyang, the London Olympic champion boasts an impressive 1:24:45 PB and she triumphed here in 2018 and has a season’s best of 1:27:05. The always mighty Chinese squad also comprises Yang Jiayu, who finished runner-up in Taicang (1:26:07), plus Ji Haiying (1:27:19), Peng Li (1:27:26), Yin Lamei (1:27:36) and Shi Yuxia (1:27:44).

Holder of a season’s best of 1:27:21 to come second in Podebrady, Ecuador’s Glenda Morejon will want to rebound from her Antalya performance when she was disqualified. The 24-year-old set the world U20 best in Cantones back in 2019 with a superb 1:25:29 and finished a fine sixth at last year’s Budapest World Championships thanks to her third ever quickest time of 1:27:40. She was also three places ahead of Brazil’s Viviane Lyra, who set a PB of 1:28:25, in Podebrady last month. 

Perez aside, the Spanish hopes also rest on Laura Garcia-Caro, who has a season’s best of 1:29:03, as well as European 35km silver medallist Raquel Gonzalez (1:29:07) and two top-10 finishers in Antalya: Lidia Sanchez-Puebla and Antia Chamosa.

Weather forecasters predict temperatures in the 14-16°C range by the time of the competition, with a high likelihood of rain and some gusts of wind.

Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics