Francisco Fernandez of Spain wins 20km in Rio Maior (© Luis Lopes)
The Race Walking events will be contested on the main street of Helsinki, Mannerheimintie, between the Opera and the Parliament. The course passes the National Museum and Finlandia Hall. The Street Mannerheimintie is named after Marshal of Finland Mannerheim. The course is a 2-km-long loop on the main street, which has a few long uphill stretches.
The director of the Race Walking course is 1995 World 50km champion, Valentin Kononen.
Men’s 20km
The hot tip for the men’s 20km is Spain’s Francisco Fernandez, a former holder of the World record, and the silver medallist from Paris 2003. The man has been training carefully for Helsinki under the guidance of his new coach, all-time best race walker Robert Korzeniowski. The Spaniard has a season’s best of 1:17:52, just 30 seconds short of his personal best, the former world’s quickest clocking, which incidentally he set in Turku, Finland, in 2002.
Notably, Fernandez has taken three straight wins on the IAAF Race Walking Challenge circuit this summer.
The challengers in Helsinki will be Athens Olympic winner, Italian Ivano Brugnetti, but he only has a season’s best of 1:22:50 after injury, and of course Equador’s 2003 World champion Jefferson Perez, who set the current World record of 1:17:21 when winning gold in Paris.
The Russian trio led by Ilya Markov (1:18:17) who was the champion in 1999, is expected to be very strong. Markov placed second in the European Cup and is also coached by Korzeniowski. He has two second places on the Race Walking Challenge circuit in 2005. The other team members are Viktor Burayev (1:18:48) and Vladimir Stankin (1:18:22), all three set their season’s bests at the national championships in March.
The winner of the Challenge event in Cixi, China, Australian Nathan Deakes, is the fastest man in the world this year with 1:17:33 thanks to that victory, and is among the favourites for both 20km and 50km (3:47.91). He lies second behind Fernandez in the overall Challenge standings for 2005, the season long worldwide circuit which ends in Helsinki, having had two first place and a second finish in Challenge meets.
But what will the Chinese athletes do? China’s Zhu Hongjun was just behind the Australian in Cixi setting an Asian record of 1:17:41.
The other members of the Chinese trio, Liu Yunfeng (1:18:33) and Yu Chaohong (1:18:30) both set their personal bests in the Cixi race, in what has been the race of the year so far, and cannot be discounted.
The conditions for making top results are ideal, as the 20km walk is raced in the evening. 46 athletes from 27 nations will start the competition.
Men’s 50 km
One thing in the men’s 50km is for sure. There will be a new champion, as the all-time best race walker, Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski retired after winning his third Olympic 50km title last summer and has now turned to coaching.
Once again all three Russians participating in the competition can be counted as medal contenders, led by Olympic bronze medallist Aleksey Voyevodin (3:41.03). The European Cup winner, and Vladimir Kanyaikin (3:40:40) and Sergey Kirdyapkin (3:41.11) have all set fast times this season.
The fastest trio however, comes from China. All three participants have walked under 3:40 this season. Han Yucheng set an Asian record of 3:36:20 in February in Nanning, China, but also appeared in Europe later to win an international competition in Dudince in another fast time of 3:40:30. Xing Shucai (3:37:58 PB) and Zhao Chengliang (3:38:56) have only walked one 50km this season, the same race in Nanning, but both of them have also posted times their best times at 20km later in the season, showing they remain in fine form.
An experienced race walker, 1993 World Champion at 50km Jesus Angel Garcia (3:48:19) is also one of the favourites to take a medal with another Spanish competitor Mikel Odriozola (3:41:47) also in the frame.
Finland is represented by Antti Kempas and Jani Lehtinen.
Men’s 50km will be raced on the 7th day of the World Championships. Athletes from 25 countries will start the race.
Helsinki 2005 media team
