Francisco Fernandez of Spain wins 20km in Rio Maior (© Luis Lopes)
The IAAF Race Walking Challenge - fifth leg - arrives tomorrow (4 June) in La Coruña a city which hosts every year a world-class walking meet called ‘Gran Premio Cantones de marcha’. The events to be contested are 20km Walk for men and women.
Men
In this 19th edition the favourite is the reigning Olympic silver medallist Francisco Fernández, better known as ‘Paquillo’ in the athletics circuit. The 28-year-old Spaniard has accomplished two overwhelming wins in his two 2005 outings; he opened his successful season with a convincing victory in the Rio Major (Portugal) IAAF Challenge race held on 2 April with an impressive 1:19:02 performance beating Australia's Nathan Deakes by 13 seconds and kept his winning streak four weeks later in Sesto San Giovanni (Italy) where he broke again the 1:20:00 barrier crossing the finish-line in 1:19:54 in a far from ideal temperature of 28° degrees Celcius.
One of Fernández’s toughest rivals should be reigning Olympic champion Italy’s Ivano Brugnetti who beat the Spaniard by five seconds in Athens (1:19:40 versus 1:19:45) but the Italian was sidelined by a pelvis injury last winter and lost some months of training. He placed 12th in Rio Maior and improved in his second appearance in Sesto San Giovanni where he took fourth place. More recently he was disqualified in the European Walking Cup in Miskolc (Hungary) two weeks ago (21 May) while he was in the lead in the 16th kilometre.
Russia's Ilya Markov, World champion in the 20km in Seville 1999 and Olympic silver medallist in Atlanta 1996 over the same distance finished runner-up in Sesto San Giovanni with a 1:20:32 clocking and will also be in tomorrow’s quality line-up. Markov is fresh from a clear 1:20:50 win in the European Walking Cup in Miskolc and holds a remarkable PB of 1:18:17 set in Sochi earlier this year (12 March).
Italy’s Maurizio Damilano’s course record from 1992 is still standing at 1:18.54 but could be in danger according to Fernández’s words.
“I have just return to Spain after a 10-day training camp in Spala (Poland) where I have been working hard under the guidance of Robert Korzeniowski. I feel in great shape and La Coruña will be a perfect test to assess my current shape. I hope to perform in the 1:18:30-1:19:00 range but it will depend on the weather and the rivalry. I have shared training sessions with Ilya Markov in Spala and he is also very strong. Brugnetti will be a dangerous athlete but I’m confident since I have already beaten him twice this year.”
Other well-known entrants are, Germany’s Andre Höhne, Latvia’s Aigars Fadejevs (8th and 9th respectively in Athens), former 50km World champion Spain’s Jesús Ángel García Bragado, his countrymen José David Domínguez and Mario Avellaneda, Tunisia’s Hatem Ghoula, Norway’s Trond Nymark, Australia’s Luke Adams, Portugal’s Joao Vieira, Ireland’s Robert Hefferman and Poland’s Benjamin Kucinski.
Turava heads women’s field
Belarus’ Ryta Turava seems ready to clinch her third victory this season after her wins in Rio Maior and Sesto San Giovanni. Turava stands at the top of the IAAF World Rankings and leads the IAAF Race Walking Challenge standings together with Italy’s Elisa Rigaudo with 20 points each.
Turava was disqualified in her last competition, the European Cup, where Portugal’s Susana Feitor was second, Rigaudo took third and Romania’s Claudia Stef, winner last year in La Couña, finished fourth.
All these three walkers will be in action tomorrow along with Germany’s Melanie Seeger who won the opening race in Tijuana and placed fifth at the last Olympic Games in Athens sandwiched by Turava (4th) and Rigaudo (6th).
Other significant entrants are 2003 World medallist Valentina Tsybulskaya of Belarus and Romania’s Norica Cimpean.
The course record is owned by Russia’s Yelena Nikolayeva with a 1:27.25 clocking in 2003.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF