Kimberly Garcia leads the women's 20km at Podebrady Walking (© Jan Houska / Czech Athletic Federation)
Global medallists Kimberly Garcia, Antonella Palmisano, Paula Torres and Perseus Karlström headline the Poděbrady Walking – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting – on Friday (8).
The races at the new half marathon distance have again lured the event’s finest to the Czech spa town 40km east of Prague.
Italy’s 2021 Olympic champion Antonella Palmisano faces 2022 double world champion García and world bronze medallist Paula Torres.
Palmisano is a Podebrady devotee. Back for the 12th time, she has climbed the podium 10 times including three wins at different competitions.
However, this is her outdoor debut for the year. The only other notable 2026 result is a swift 11:56.74 to win the 3000m at the Italian Indoor Championships in February.
By contrast, not only did García win in Poděbrady two years ago at 20km in a superb 1:27:08, more telling is the Peruvian’s victory at the Caixa World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Brasilia 26, where she dominated the half marathon for a 1:35:00 clocking.
At the same championships, Ecuador’s Paula Torres likewise dominated the marathon for a 3:24:37 win – a race she led from gun to tape.
Ecuador’s strong race walking tradition brings a season debut for Glenda Morejon, silver medallist in the mixed marathon relay at the 2024 Olympics. Morejon will also count Podebrady among her fond memories. She was second in 1:27:21 to Garcia’s speedy win in 2024.
Teammate Johana Ordóñez has already stood on the Podebrady podium too, when she finished third four years ago.
Elsewhere on the entry list is France’s Marine Rottier, who carved out a fine fourth in Dudince for the marathon, and India’s Priyanka Goswami, who also has the full distance under her belt after coming second at the Indian Championships in 3:37:25.
The men’s race is a mouth-watering prospect. Karlström, the 2023 world silver medallist, is racing the one-kilometre loop around Lazensky Park for an incredible 16th time in all competitions, having been a winner in four of them.
It’s no surprise that the Swede wants more: “It’s always a very well-organised race with a great atmosphere. In my opinion, it’s by far the best course in the world – it brings out the best in everyone who competes there.”
Another Podebrady stalwart, Christopher Linke, also lines up. He too has won four times: twice in 2017 at different competitions.
The 37-year-old German comes into this race off the back of a third-place finish in the marathon at the Race Walking Tour Gold meeting in Dudince in March, and a comfortable half marathon win at the German Race Walking Championships last month (1:28:04).
However, Karlström raced the half marathon in Dudince where he won in 1:24:58. He also clocked 3:04:50 for the marathon at the US Championships in California in January.
Declan Tingay is ready to upset the pair’s apple cart. The Australian is the fastest in the field having clocked 1:23:41 in Taicang in March.
Leo Kopp also arrives in form. The German’s fine fourth place at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Brasília’s warm conditions was achieved in 1:27:50.
Colombia’s 2017 world champion Eider Arevalo, who finished 18th in 1:30:16 in Brasilia, is a late entrant. Finland’s Jerry Jokinen is ready to battle the best after finishing second in Dudince behind Karlström in an isolated 1:28:17.
Mexicans Ever Jair Palma Olivares and Noel Chama, who won the US Championships half marathon in 1:27:28, along with Italians Teodorico Caporaso and Andrea Cosi should also be among the early pacemakers.
There is an intriguing entry from Andres Chocho. The 42-year-old – who won the 2015 Pan-American Games title but is now better known as coach to Garcia, wife Erica de Sena and Olympic champion Brian Pintado – hasn’t finished a Race Walking Tour Gold meeting since 2023.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
