The Rio Maior International Race Walking Grand Prix returns to the Portuguese municipality on Saturday (18) with a host of world and Olympic medallists set to compete at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting.In both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 20km events, the overall 2014 IAAF Race Walking Challenge winners will be up against the defending champions.In the men&rsquo;s event, Ukraine&rsquo;s reigning challenge winner Ruslan Dmytrenko will face Brazil&rsquo;s Caio Bonfim, who triumphed in Rio Maior last year, while China&rsquo;s Liu Hong, the 2014 challenge leader, will line up against last year&rsquo;s Rio Maior champion Vera Santos of Portugal.South American champion Bonfim has so far this year finished third in Lugano and fourth in Dudince and Podebrady, but he has clocked times of 1:22:00 and 1:21:43, which is significantly quicker than the marks he was producing at this stage of the season last year.Meanwhile, IAAF World Race Walking Cup winner Dmytrenko will be contesting his first race of 2015, so the Ukrainian record-holder&rsquo;s current form is unknown.World 50km race walk champion Robert Heffernan will be contesting his first 20km race of 2015. The 37-year-old from Ireland recently clocked 3:48:44 in Dudince, his fastest 50km performance outside of a major championship.Fellow 50km specialist Matej Toth will be making his first appearance in Rio Maior since his victory here in 2012. The Slovakian recently clocked the third-fastest time in history over 50km with 3:34:38 in Dudince and last week the European silver medallist placed second over 20km in Podebrady, finishing almost a minute ahead of Bonfim.Two Olympic medallists will also be in the field. Guatemala&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Erick Barrondo heads to Rio Maior after finishing second in Chihuahua and third in Podebrady, while Olympic bronze medallist Wang Zhen leads a strong Chinese contingent which also includes Olympic fourth-place finisher Cai Zelin.Wang recently won the Chinese World Championships 20km trial race. Fellow trials winner Yu Wei, who triumphed over 50km at that competition, will also be in Rio Maior. Aside from the likes of Bonfim and Barrondo, there will be a notable presence of athletes from Central and South America. 2011 world bronze medallist Luis Fernando Lopez will be joined by Colombian compatriot Eider Arevalo, the 2012 world junior champion who last year broke Lopez&rsquo;s national record with 1:19:45.Following second-place finishes in Dudince and Chihuahua this year, Ecuadoran 50km record-holder Andres Chocho will be joined in Rio Maior by Mexico&rsquo;s 2009 world bronze medallist Eder Sanchez.Other European contenders in the field include the recently improved Bertrand Moulinet from France, whose recent 1:19:18 clocking makes him the fastest in the field this year. Joining him are Poland&rsquo;s Rafal Augustyn, Ukraine&rsquo;s World Championships 50km fourth-place finisher Igor Hlavan, Italian duo Giorgio Rubino and Matteo Giupponi, and home favourite Joao Vieira, whose two victories in Rio Maior came 16 years apart, the most recent being in 2013.<h3>Liu looks to break European dominance in Rio Maior</h3>In all but one of the past 23 editions of the International Race Walking Grand Prix in Rio Maior, the women&rsquo;s 20km has been won by European athletes. The only non-European winner to date was China&rsquo;s 1999 world 20km champion Liu Hongyu.This weekend, her near-namesake Liu Hong will aim to get China back on top of the podium in the Portuguese municipality.Liu, who has won medals at the past three World Championships, has already got her season off to a strong start after clocking 1:27:39 at China&rsquo;s World Championships trials, beaten only by the Asian record-breaking performance by Lu Xiuzhi.Liu&rsquo;s consistency in 2014 &ndash; which included a second-place finish at the World Race Walking Cup &ndash; was rewarded by her overall victory in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge, and she will be looking to replicate that success this year by scoring valuable points this weekend.But the in-form Italian Eleonora Giorgi could scupper Liu&rsquo;s plans. The 25-year-old powered to victory in Dudince earlier this year, breaking the Italian record with 1:26:46, making her the fastest race walker this year of the entries in Rio Maior.Liu will be joined by compatriot Qieyang Shenjie, the athlete who broke Liu&rsquo;s Asian 20km record when taking bronze at the London 2012 Olympics. After finishing fourth at her country&rsquo;s World Championships Trials and seeing her own national record broken, Qieyang will want to make amends.In a race that doubles up as the Portuguese Championships, there will be a strong contingent from the host nation, led by defending champion Vera Santos. The two-time Rio Maior champion is now 33, but set her lifetime best of 1:28:02 less than a year ago.Joining her are fellow Portuguese race walkers Ana Cabecinha and Ines Henriques, who have both finished in the top four in the challenge standings for the past two years. Both athletes have also made it on to the podium three times in Rio Maior.No athlete, man or woman, has won in Rio Maior as often as Susana Feitor. The 40-year-old has triumphed eight times in her home town, the most recent victory being in 2001, and will be keen to make up for her failure to finish last year. She will also have the added incentive of qualifying for her 12th World Championships appearance later this summer.Italy&rsquo;s Elisa Rigaudo is another former Rio Maior winner in the field. The 34-year-old has finished in the top 10 at eight global championships between 2003 and 2013, during which time she earned Olympic bronze in 2008. This will be her first race since the 2013 World Championships.The second-place finishers from the past two editions will be back in Rio Maior for another bite of the cherry. Guatemala&rsquo;s Mirna Ortiz set a Central American record of 1:28:31 when finishing second here in 2013, while Erica de Sena set a Brazilian record of 1:31:22 with her second-place finish last year.Other Europeans in the field include Spanish champion Julia Takacs and Portugal-based Lithuanian Kristina Saltanovic.Antonio Manuel Fernandes for the IAAF

The Rio Maior International Race Walking Grand Prix returns to the Portuguese municipality on Saturday (18) with a host of world and Olympic medallists set to compete at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting.

Challenge winners Dmytrenko and Liu take on defending champions in Rio Maior

Just a few hours after losing the 20km race walk world record he set just a week ago, although both marks are subject to ratification, Yohann Diniz attempted to claim it back at the famous Lugano race walking meeting &ndash; the 13th Memorial Mario Albisetti &ndash; but came up just short when clocking 1:17:24 on Sunday (15).In what was effectively a time trial, Diniz quickly took the lead and was never headed but came up 48 seconds short of the time clocked by Japan's Yusuke Suzuki on home soil at the Asian Race Walking Championships in his home town of Nomi earlier on Sunday.He was also just adrift of his own pending French record, and former world record, of 1:17:02 set in Arles exactly a week ago, although it was the sixth-fastest performance under record-ratifiable conditions.Diniz immediately set a fast pace, clocking 7:34 for the first of the 10 two-kilometre laps and kept a regular rhythm for each split: 7:39 on the second lap, 7:43 on the third lap and 7:43 on the fourth lap. The 37-year-old went through the 10km mark in 38:20, 20 seconds inside the former pace he set in Arles seven days ago although 15 seconds slower than Suzuki's split in Nomi.He went through 14km in 53:54 and 16km in 1:00:43, and was still on course to regain the world record but slowed slightly in the final four kilometres to just miss out on the record. But he managed to hold on to cross the finish-line in 1:17:24. &ldquo;I thought I would be able to improve my record but I needed stronger competition to walk faster. I felt the wind along the course. However, I am happy that I broke my Lugano best time set in 2012,&rdquo; said Diniz.&ldquo;Last year I won the European 50km title with the world record in Zurich so Switzerland is my lucky place. I am happy that I recovered well after last week&rsquo;s race in Arles. I will try the double in the 20 and 50km in both Beijing and Rio,&rdquo; he added. Lebogang Shange came through to take a slightly surprising second place in an a South African record of 1:21:50, taking 31 seconds off Chris Britz&rsquo;s 19-year-old mark and an improvement by more than two minutes on his previous best.In an entertaining race for the lower places on the podium, with less than a minute covering places two to five, Brazil's Caio Bonfim took third in 1:22:00.Anzeka Drahotova almost added to the record tally when winning the women&rsquo;s 20km race in 1:28:52, her fourth appearance at the race.Still a teenager although in her first year in the senior ranks, the world junior champion was just 44 seconds outside her own national record set when taking the bronze medal at the European Championships in Zurich last summer.Drahotova started quickly forging a gap between herself and her rivals with a burst of acceleration on the fourth lap and went through halfway in 44:31, holding a lead of 25 seconds over Polish record-holder Agniewska Dygacz. Drahotova slightly slowed down after 16km but she had such a huge advantage that she maintained her place at the front until the line with little difficulty.&nbsp; Behind the Czech race walker, the experienced Portuguese international Vera Santos passed the tiring Dygacz late in the race and took second in 1:30:23, with Dygacz 15 seconds further back in third place, improving by one position on her 2014 finish in Lugano.Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Just a few hours after losing his 20km race walk world record he set just a week ago, although both marks are subject to ratification, Yohann Diniz attempted to claim it back at the famous Lugano  race walking meeting – the 13th Memorial Morio Albisetti – but came up just short when clocking 1:17:24 on Sunday (15).

Diniz comes up short in world record bid in Lugano

Both podiums comprised Portuguese-speaking athletes at the International Race Walking Grand Prix in Rio Maior on Saturday (5) as Brazil’s Caio Bonfim won the men’s race and Portugal’s Vera Santos took the women’s title for a second time, four years after her first triumph.A particularly hot afternoon resulted in numerous drop-outs, especially in the men’s race. But despite the weather, both 20km races were competitive.First up was the women’s race in which the Portuguese quartet of Ana Cabecinha, Ines Henriques, Vera Santos and Susana Feitor were joined in the first half by Brazil’s Erica de Sena. After passing through the half-way mark, 2005 world bronze medallist Feitor dropped out, followed by national record-holder Cabecinha.Of the three left in front, Henriques led, but she couldn’t hold off the closing pace of Santos, who crossed the line in a season’s best of 1:31:14.Earlier this year, Santos finished one place ahead of Henriques at the Portuguese Championships. It was the first time since the 2011 edition of the Rio Maior Grand Prix that she had defeated her long-time rival.De Sena came through to take second place in 1:31:22, beating the Brazilian record she set two years ago in Rio Maior.Henriques finished third in 1:32:03, a long way ahead of Spanish duo Maria Jose Poves and Ainhoa Pinedo, clocking 1:34:24 and 1:35:56 respectively. Lithuania’s Kristina Saltanovic was sixth in 1:36:18.“This win came about in the final laps, where my confidence grew because I knew my strength at this time of the season,” said Santos, who is currently preparing for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup and the European Championships.Bonfim defeats VieiraPortugal’s two-time European bronze medallist Joao Vieira, winner in Rio Maior last year, was seeking a second consecutive victory here.He battled until the final lap, but despite his best efforts could not hold off Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, who came through to win in 1:23:15, five seconds ahead of Vieira.Vieira’s twin brother Sergio finished third in 1:24:15.“I’m very happy with this win,” said Bonfim, the reigning South American champion. “I’ve come to Rio Maior several times for training. It’s a great place for training and I’m trying to convince the Brazilian federation to send their athletes to train in Portugal, specifically at the Rio Maior Sports Centre.”Italy’s late entrant Marco de Luca finished fourth in 1:24:50 ahead Bonfim’s team-mate Jose Alessandro Bagio, 1:25:52, and Portugal’s Pedro Isidro, 1:25:53.António Manuel Fernandes for the IAAFLEADING RESULTSMen 1 Caio Bonfim (BRA) 1:23:15 2 Joao Vieira (POR) 1:23:20 3 Sergio Vieira (POR) 1:24:15 4 Marco de Luca (ITA) 1:24:50 5 Jose Alessandro Bagio (BRA) 1:25:52 6 Pedro Isidro (POR) 1:25:53Women 1 Vera Santos (POR) 1:31:14 2 Erica de Sena (BRA) 1:31:22 3 Ines Henriques (POR) 1:32:03 4 Maria Jose Poves (ESP) 1:34:24 5 Ainhoa Pinedo (ESP) 1:35:56 6 Kristina Saltanovic (LTU) 1:36:18

Both podiums comprised Portuguese-speaking athletes at the International Race Walking Grand Prix in Rio Maior on Saturday (5) as Brazil’s Caio Bonfim won the men’s race and Portugal’s Vera Santos took the women’s title for a second time, four years after her first triumph.

Challenge winners Dmytrenko and Liu take on defending champions in Rio Maior

Diniz comes up short in world record bid in Lugano

Santos and Bonfim win in Rio Maior