Maria Perez in La Coruna (© Nicola Maggio)
World 20km record-holder Toshikazu Yamanishi and double world champion Maria Perez were victorious at the Gran Premio Cantones, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting, held on Saturday (7) in La Coruña.
In doing so, Yamanishi completed a hat-trick of wins in the Spanish coastal city after his previous victories in 2019 and 2024 while Perez achieved her first ever win in La Coruña to become the first Spanish athlete to take top spot since 2010.
The men’s race kicked off at a moderate pace, the opening couple of circuits being covered in 4:04 with all the favourites packed at the front. Following a brisker two laps, timed at 3:56/3:57, France's Gabriel Bordier moved to the front to open a slight margin on the rest of the group. He reached the 5km checkpoint in 20:02, three seconds clear of the chase pack headed by Yamanishi.
Bordier was reeled in some 26 minutes into the race, then Ecuador's David Hurtado increased the pace and reached half way in 39:47 with a five-second margin over a 20-man chase pack. That group was finally whittled down after Hurtado covered the 11th lap in a swift 3:50.
Yamanishi caught Hurtado with ease before the 13th kilometre and his relentless cadence soon paid off to reduce the size of the main group to seven men, including the Chinese pair of Qiang Haifeng and Li Chenjie, Mexico's Ricardo Ortiz, Italy's 2021 Olympic champion Massimo Stano, Spain's Diego García and Japan's world 35km bronze medallist Masatora Kawano.
By 15km, the clock read 59:14 and first Stano, then Haifeng and finally García lost ground as Yamanishi's 16th circuit was timed at a more than swift 3:47. Ortiz challenged Yamanishi for the next two laps, but with about 1.3km to go, the in-form Yamanishi broke away from the Mexican with ease and his compatriot thanks to a 3:46 penultimate lap.
The attention turned then to the fight battle for the second spot between Ortiz and Kawano; at the tape, a relaxed Yamanishi romped home unopposed in 1:18:15 while his compatriot beat Ortiz over the closing stages, some four and six seconds in arrears respectively.
“I felt strong but decided to wait until the last laps to attack,” said Yamanishi. “I'm not planning more competitions before the World Championships in Tokyo but I'll likely do a training stint in altitude in Italy next month.”
The women’s contest opened at a slow pace, the first kilometre covered in 4:42 with China's Na Wang leading. The rhythm increased slightly over the following laps which were covered in the 4:28/4:32 range, still very comfortable for the likes of Spain's Maria Perez, Italy's Antonella Palmisano and Peru's Kimberly Garcia to reach 5km in 22:44, an easy 1:31 pace.
Garcia set the pace over the next few laps alongside Ecuador's Paula Milena Torres as halfway was reached in 45:05 with defending champion García at the helm closely followed by China’s Liu Hong, Wu Quanming and Peng Li plus Peru's Evelyn Inga while Pérez and Palmisano travelled in the middle of the 25-woman heading pack.
To the delight of the crowd, Pérez moved to the front shortly before the 13th kilometre, the quickest by then in 4:16, the Spaniard’s change of speed reducing the heading pack to four with about 4.5km to go, Wu, Peng, and Gonzalez being the other three as Palmisano and Garcia couldn't live with the pace.
Perez increased her cadence even more with laps of 4:13, 4:11 and a terrific 4:07 to speed away from all of her rivals apart from Gonzalez with 3.5km to go. A 4:05 penultimate lap proved too quick for Perez’s Mexican rival and she kept her at bay until the end, winning in 1:27:22 to 1:27:32. Peng completed the podium another 13 seconds behind.
“I had already won Olympic and world titles but I had never succeeded here so this win is a dream come true,” said Perez, who recorded halves of 45:05 and 42:19. “I suffered a minor traffic accident last Monday in Madrid and had some niggles in my neck so I'm very proud to have overcome that setback and win today.”
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
Leading results
Men
1 Toshikazu Yamanishi (JPN) 1:18:15
2 Matasora Kawano (JPN) 1:18:19
3 Ricardo Ortiz (MEX) 1:18:21
4 Massimo Stano (ITA) 1:18:25
5 Diego Garcia (ESP) 1:18:29
6 Qian Haifeng (CHN) 1:18:00
7 Li Chenjie (CHN) 1:18:19
8 David Hurtado (ECU) 1:18:53
9 Christopher Linke (GER) 1:18:55
10 Evan Dunfee (CAN) 1:19:00
Women
1 Maria Perez (ESP) 1:27:22
2 Alegna Gonzalez (MEX) 1:27:32
3 Peng Li (CHN) 1:27:45
4 Wu Quanming (CHN) 1:28:04
5 Kimberly Garcia (PER) 1:28:11
6 Antonella Palmisano (ITA) 1:28:29
7 Maryaluz Andia (PER) 1:28:48
8 Liu Hong (CHN) 1:29:09
9 Ji Haiying (CHN) 1:29:12
10 Evelyn Inga (PER) 1:29:19
