Ryta Turava in Leamington Spa (© Tim Watt)
There were UK allcomers records for every one of the six races at the seventh European Cup of Race Walking in Leamington Spa in England on Sunday.
On a course not renowned for fast times in the past and missing two of the favourites for gold at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka - Francisco Fernandez and Alex Schwazer - the races at the homely Victoria Park turned out to be a revelation.
Diniz over Brugnetti in 20Km
The best was saved until the last of the day.
A fascinating duel between Olympic gold medalist Ivano Brugnetti and Yohan Diniz saw the French European champion at 50k win by a margin. Diniz’s confidence is such that he shot away from the start and took the wind out of the sails of everyone else.
Brugnetti recovered the quickest to catch him at 4k, but the Frenchman then kept trying to snap the invisible elastic between them for the next 16k. They both shot through halfway in a fast 39:35, but with four laps to go, Diniz suddenly took 12 metres out of Brugnetti - and that was that.
Diniz grabbed a tricolour 100 metres from the finish and high-fived it with his countrymen all the way to the line, but still claimed A PB by two minutes as well as a French national record.
Brugnetti’s reward was also a PB, and a return to confidence he’s been missing since his Olympic victory in Athens.
Afterwards the margin of his win surprised Diniz.
“The plan in my mind was to use this race for Osaka (the IAAF World Championships). I kept seeing if Brugnetti would react to little sprints – and I felt great throughout.”
After his effort, Brugnetti was only looking to get a rest.
“Today was good for me, but I think I need a few days beside the Adriatic to recover.”
For a while, it looked as if bronze would go to Valeriy Borchin before the Russian was reeled in by the joint challenge of Robbie Heffernan and Ivan Trotski with a lap to go. The Irish around the course were jumping up and down for Heffernan, but the final straight saw another Russian Igor Yerokhin come from nowhere to hammer the last 200 metres in something around 40 seconds!
Belarussian Trotski slipped through into fourth, but to the delight of those in green, the Irishman set his second PB on the course – this time six minutes faster than his first time in 2000. An Irish national record was the icing on the cake.
Belarus claimed their second team gold of the day, with the solid team packing of Italy and Spain taking the other medals.
Patient key for Turava
The walking world is Ryta Turava’s oyster right now.
In truth, the World Cup and European champion had time to look around towards the end and see what the rest were doing in the 20Km race.
Behind her Olga Kaniskina’s face was a mask of agony as she gamely refused to give up a faint chance of getting back in touch. But when an athlete of Turava’s stature goes through 10k in a modest 45:26, there’s always going to be fireworks in the final 5k. Coming home in a little under 21 minutes, she was chatting easily seconds after the finish.
What did catch her breath were the efforts of her Belarussian teammates Elena Ginko and Sniazhana Yurchanka. Third for Ginko and 12th for newcomer Yurchanka was enough to supplant big neighbours Russia from the top of the podium by a mere two points.
The race for fourth was as exciting as anything else. Italian supporters around the course literally willed Elisa Rigaudo to catch former Olympic bronze medalist Mario Vasco over the final two laps. Inch by inch the Italian got closer and then sprinted ahead to win the personal battle by just two seconds. Vasco’s pained expression softened when she saw two teammates finish in the first 11 to bring bronze team medals as a consolation.
Kanaykin over Nymark in 50Km
THE Russian national anthem playing in the background was perfect timing for Vladimir Kanaykin to pass Trond Nymark for the final time. As his women’s junior teammates were getting their medals elsewhere in Victoria Park, Kanaykin must have privately congratulating himself he was 4k from claiming his first major triumph as well.
The Russian moved up a gear going past the tennis courts towards the end of the circuit, and Nymark knew it was game, set and match – again.
The Norwegian had led for the best part of last year’s European Championship in Gothenburg before watching a medal of any hue disappear in the rain. This time he was never in danger of losing second, and his last lap allowed him to come back a fraction on the eventual winner.
The race might have been even closer if Nymark had been able to avoid two unscheduled pit stops. One around half-way, and another, 5k later. He said: “I guess it gave the others a little hope when they saw me dive into the bushes, but I couldn’t honestly say whether it had an effect on the final result.
“He (Kanaykin) had superior pace – but I knew I had enough on the others.”
The winner has had plenty of experience in losing a lead. Disqualified in the World Cup junior 10k, the senior event in La Coruna and the European Championships – both last year - once Kanaykin satisfied the judges his undoubted talent was going to see him pass the rest.
This included defending champion Aleksey Voyevodin, who was always with the Russian phalanx, but could never bridge the gap to the leaders.
It must have been more of a surprise still when he was passed by teammate Oleg Kistkin at the death. The bronze medalist’s time was a debut best at the distance, and underlined a race that always held the attention.
Russia were easy team winners. The evergreen Jesus Angel Garcia spearheaded Spain to silver, and solid walking by France paid dividends in bronze.
Junior titles to Russia
Sergey Morozov was never a doubt for the junior men’s 10k. The winner of the IAAF World Walking Cup in La Coruna last year was not far off his quick time in Spain. And on a course that had a slowing dogleg to make up the kilometre lap, his effort on the park course at Leamington was impressive, especially as he had to contend with the slightest of climbs each circuit.
The medals were on their way to Russia long before half-way of the women’s junior 10k – and the winner at the end of the first lap. By then Anisa Kornikova already had a 20 metre lead over her teammates, and it was no surprise the fastest of the year so far went on to extend her lead: first by 27 seconds, and then a massive 1:12 by the tape.
Paul Warburton for the IAAF
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