 |
| Olga Kaniskina, Anisya Kirdyapkina and Elena Lashmanova in action at the 2012 World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Mordovia. Photo: Oleg Nikishin/ Getty Images Europe www.zimbio.com |
Race walker Irina Stankina impressed the athletic
world, when she became in Gothenburg-95 the youngest ever World Champion in her
event, as she was only 18 years old. Stankina’s prowess had a significant
impact in her hometown, Saransk in the remote Russian Republic of Mordovia, to
the point the proud local government decided to create a High Performance
Centre specialized in race walking, putting in charge of it the young
champion’s coach Viktor Chegin with the target of producing “a dozen more
Stankinas.” The school steadily bloomed in the shadow of champions as Robert
Korzeniowski or Jefferson Pérez and Chuvashian athletes as Yelena Nikolayeva
and Olimpiada Ivanova, until its big moment arrived in 2008, with Olga
Kaniskina and Valeriy Borchin’s Olympic victories in Beijing. Since then, Saransk
walkers have won everything, in an overwhelming domination never seen before in
the sector, which has made good the ambitious predictions of the Mordovian
authorities when they launched the High Performance Centre nearly two decades
ago.
Long time President of the Republic of Mordovia, Nikolay Merkushkin bestowed special interest in developping culture and mass practise of sport in his jurisdiction so high quality sport facilities were built even in the most remote rural areas of the country. Currently, statistics say that 20% of Mordovians are involved in sport, which is more than double than the average in Russia. Mordovia has produced an uncountable number of champions in weightlifting, boxing, tennis, gymnastics or wrestling but without a doubt the number one sport in the Republic is race walking and its foremost standouts as Viktor Chegin, Olga Kaniskina or Valeriy Borchin are no less than big personalities which earn distinctions and big prizes as appartments and fancy cars from the regional government. They are role models for every Mordovian kid. No less than $2 million are invested annually in the development of race walking, which is taught in every primary school. Every talented youngster is spotted there and engaged for district clubs and the best among the best join Saransk High Performance Centre, where they will live, train and study. At their disposal they have the most fancied equipment and a whole team of experts, headed by Viktor Chegin, who supervises personally every workout and make athletes reach the heights of perfection. http://www.moti-athletics-20wk-w.blogspot.fr/2011/08/sandro-damilano-versus-viktor-chegin.html
Olga Kaniskina was far from being a teen prodigy athlete: she was rather a fragile girl frequently ill, who was practising athletics (running distance) only to meet her friends. In spite of being an admirer of Stankina and Nikolayeva, Kaniskina was not really fond of race walking either. However she was entered by her coach for the national junior championships in 1999, when she was 14. Olga finished last that race, though she already received praises for her good technique. That experience pushed her to take seriously training in order to improve. From then on she became stronger and stronger. Kaniskina had no special talent and even Chegin was reluctant to take her in his group, but definitely she was able to endure loads of work nobody else could. This capacity and her outstanding technique would make her become the great champion she is now. http://www.moti-athletics-20wk-w.blogspot.fr/2011/12/olga-kaniskina-best-athlete-of-last.html In 2006 Kaniskina made her breakthrough to the race walking elite. She won the Russian Winter championship in 1:26:02, a time which led the yearly lists. Besides she finished 5th at the World Cup and 2nd at the European Championships, after Belarus Ryta Turava. The following year, Kaniskina accomplished her first major title at the World Championships in Osaka, leading from gun to tape, not intimidated for the challenging conditions of heat and high humidity in the Japanese city. Then she continued her winning streak in 2008 at the World Cup in Cheboksary, closing the race just one second short of the world record. At the Olympic Games in Beijing she culminated another lonely cavalcade to win gold in a new Olympic record, this time under the rain. The Russian champion had started the new year of 2009 with her best clocking ever in Adler (1:24:56). Yet she did not get the world record because of the absence of international judges.
After such display of power by Russian walkers
Kaniskina and Borchin at the Olympic Games, a reaction of the rest of the world
was expected the following year. In Krakow, Beijing silver medallist Kjersti
Platzer achieved a narrow victory over Kaniskina at the 10km distance. Also at
the European Cup in Metz, though without some of its foremost stars, Russia
only triumphed at the 50km distance, thanks to Denis Nizhegorodov. Spanish
veteran María Vasco achieved a remarkable victory in the female race, her first
gold medal in a global competition at 33 years of age, over world junior record
holder and favourite Anisya Kirdyapkina. At the men’s 20km, it was specially
impressive the clean sweep of the podium by the italian team formed by Giorgio
Rubino, Ivano Brugnetti and Jean-Jacques Nkouloukidi. The winner Rubino, fifth
at the World Championships in Osaka, had left injuries behind and now had
become the biggest hope of a country with an outstanding tradition in race
walking. Rubino had moved to Sandro Damilano, in a moment the legendary coach
had just parted ways with Alex Schwazer. On the other hand, the reigning 50km
Olympic champion seemed in a huge crisis of shape and confidence during the
2009 season, when he was unable to finish any of his two races at his pet
distance, including the one at Berlin World Championships.
In
spite of those achievements by Italian, Spanish and Norwegian walkers in
competitions prior to Worlds, in Berlin, Russia did not only maintained its
dominance at the specialty but just increased it. All three gold medals were
won by Russian athletes. Besides, all three winners: Borchin, Kaniskina and
Sergey Kirdyapkin, belonged to the group Viktor Chegin coached at Saransk High
Performance Centre in race walking. Never before a local club had accomplished
such huge success in a global championship, so they had snatched every single
gold medal at stake in an athletic specialty. Also noteworthy were the medals
of young Chinese athletes Wang Hao and Liu Hong, just out of the podium the
year before at Beijing Olympic Games and now silver and bronze respectively. After
the failure of the lost generation of Han Yuchen, Zhu Hongjun, Zhao Chenglian, Li Gaobo or Jing Jiang, there were the first medals
for China at Olympic or World level since 2000. Similarly, Eder Sánchez with
his bronze ended up a long drought for another traditional race walking
powerhouse as México, which last global medal dated back too from the 2000
Olympic Games in Sidney
Long time President of the Republic of Mordovia, Nikolay Merkushkin bestowed special interest in developping culture and mass practise of sport in his jurisdiction so high quality sport facilities were built even in the most remote rural areas of the country. Currently, statistics say that 20% of Mordovians are involved in sport, which is more than double than the average in Russia. Mordovia has produced an uncountable number of champions in weightlifting, boxing, tennis, gymnastics or wrestling but without a doubt the number one sport in the Republic is race walking and its foremost standouts as Viktor Chegin, Olga Kaniskina or Valeriy Borchin are no less than big personalities which earn distinctions and big prizes as appartments and fancy cars from the regional government. They are role models for every Mordovian kid. No less than $2 million are invested annually in the development of race walking, which is taught in every primary school. Every talented youngster is spotted there and engaged for district clubs and the best among the best join Saransk High Performance Centre, where they will live, train and study. At their disposal they have the most fancied equipment and a whole team of experts, headed by Viktor Chegin, who supervises personally every workout and make athletes reach the heights of perfection. http://www.moti-athletics-20wk-w.blogspot.fr/2011/08/sandro-damilano-versus-viktor-chegin.html
Olga Kaniskina was far from being a teen prodigy athlete: she was rather a fragile girl frequently ill, who was practising athletics (running distance) only to meet her friends. In spite of being an admirer of Stankina and Nikolayeva, Kaniskina was not really fond of race walking either. However she was entered by her coach for the national junior championships in 1999, when she was 14. Olga finished last that race, though she already received praises for her good technique. That experience pushed her to take seriously training in order to improve. From then on she became stronger and stronger. Kaniskina had no special talent and even Chegin was reluctant to take her in his group, but definitely she was able to endure loads of work nobody else could. This capacity and her outstanding technique would make her become the great champion she is now. http://www.moti-athletics-20wk-w.blogspot.fr/2011/12/olga-kaniskina-best-athlete-of-last.html In 2006 Kaniskina made her breakthrough to the race walking elite. She won the Russian Winter championship in 1:26:02, a time which led the yearly lists. Besides she finished 5th at the World Cup and 2nd at the European Championships, after Belarus Ryta Turava. The following year, Kaniskina accomplished her first major title at the World Championships in Osaka, leading from gun to tape, not intimidated for the challenging conditions of heat and high humidity in the Japanese city. Then she continued her winning streak in 2008 at the World Cup in Cheboksary, closing the race just one second short of the world record. At the Olympic Games in Beijing she culminated another lonely cavalcade to win gold in a new Olympic record, this time under the rain. The Russian champion had started the new year of 2009 with her best clocking ever in Adler (1:24:56). Yet she did not get the world record because of the absence of international judges.
Meanwhile,
Valeriy Borchin was following in his countrywoman steps. An amateur of distance
running and cross country skiing, Borchin’s hurting knee made him give up his
first love to embrace instead race walking when he was already 17. However, in
only three years he made a stunning progression in the event to be
competitive with the best in the world. Although he suffered an important
set-back in his early career as he was controlled positive by a stimulant and
banned for one year in 2005, Borchin came back strongly, winning surprisingly
the Russian Champs and then the silver medal at the European Championships in
Goteborg, after Spaniard Paquillo Fernández. However the 2007 season was for
the upcoming athlete much of a disaster: Borchin failed at the European Cup and
succumbed to the heat in Osaka. Yet, things would change for the best in the
Olympic year. Firstly, Valeriy qualified brilliantly for Beijing, with his
runner-up position at the World Cup before the home crowd, in a race won again
by Fernández. At the Olympic Games he showed his outstanding shape, with a
tremendous injection of speed in the last kilometres of the race. The field,
including his Spanish archrival, was unable to respond. Only the champion of champions,
Jefferson Pérez, dared to follow Borchin for a while, until a new powerful
surge of the Russian brought him straight to Olympic glory. At the beginning of 2009 at the Russian winter, Valeriy Borchin had run his fastest race ever (1:17:38).
 |
| Olive Lougnane and Liu Hong's effort during the 20km final at the 2009 World Championships www.racewalk.com |
After
Jefferson Pérez’s retirement and with Paquillo Fernández soon involved in a doping
scandal, the 20km walk leadership looked easier for Valeriy Borchin. However,
Rubino and Brugnetti wanted to repeat their success at the recent European Cup
and thus spoil the Russian party. Both Italian athletes, along with Norwegian
Erik Tysse, made an early break and crossed the 5km point with a clear
advantage over the rest of the field. However they were caught after mid-race
and then another trio made its move: Borchin, Wang Hao and Luis Fernando López
of Colombia. Borchin soon left behind first López, then Wang to win gold in a
quick 1:18:41, ahead of the Chinese athlete (1:19:06) and Eder Sánchez (1:19:22). Rubino finished fourth, just
ahead of López, who lost ground in the end. Brugnetti did not finish the race.
Olga Kaniskina’s victory was even more comfortable.
This time she waited until mid-race to surge from the leading group. Platzer
initially tried to close the gap but she lost momentum and eventually was
disqualified, while María Vasco could not finish the race. Kaniskina held a 49
seconds advantage to win in 1:28:09. Behind her the strongest in the end were
Irish Olive Loughnane and Liu Hong, who picked up the minor medals. Thus
Loughnane equalled her compatriot Gillian O’Sullivan’s performance in 2003 in St Denis.
Interestingly race walking is currently the best Irish athletic event, with
also the always consistent Robert Heffernan in men’s side. Kirdyapkina finished
just out of the medals, ahead of Portuguese Vera Santos and Spaniard Beatriz
Pascual, who repeated her 6th place from Beijing.
 |
| Yohann Diniz leads Kirdyapkin, Adams, Tallent and Nizhegorodov at the 2009 World Championships 50km race www.racewalk.com |
Sergey Kirdyapkin won gold at the 50km race for the second time at Worlds, four years after his first victory in Helsinki. Kidyapkin had started as an average middle distance runner in his teens, until Chegin advised him to switch to race walking. By then he was already 19. His breakthrough came in 2005, when he grabbed an awesome silver medal at the European Cup, followed by a gold at the World Championships, winning the race by more than 3 minutes. Indeed, when Kirdyapkin wins he wins big but the problem had been his huge inconsistency: after his victory in Helsinki, Sergey ended up a dissapointing 49th at next year’s World Cup and then dropped out in both Osaka Worlds and Beijing Olympics. In such a long event as the 50km walk, mental strenght is as important as physical talent, and it is at this level that Kirdyapkin fell. Yet Chegin was always by his side and worked with him to make him become a more confident racer. In Berlin, Aussies Jared Tallent and Luke Adams went for the win along with Denis Nizhegorodov, but Kirdyapkin did not panic and instead followed his coach instructions, keeping his own pace which he had to increase gradually. At the 40km mark, Kirdyapkin was well ahead of the rest as Olympic champion Schwazer and world record holder Nizhegorodov had quitted the race, early leader Yuki Yamazaki had been disqualified and favourite Yohann Diniz was fading. Norway’s Trond Nymark, in a strong comeback, menaced Sergey’s leading place but the Russian sped up in the last stages of the race to win in an excellent 3:38:35, before collapsing to the ground. Nymark crossed the line 2 minutes and 41 seconds afterwards, just holding fast finishing Jesús Angel García from Spain. The world champion back in 1993 snatched a remarkable bronze medal at almost 40 years of age. Sudol of Poland and Andre Hohne of Germany followed, while Adams and Tallent could only make a 6th and 7th place respectively.
None of the three world champions went to Chihuahua
for the 2010 World Cup in race walking. The Russian squad sent for that
competition was still strong but it did not manage to win any gold medal, with
the exception of the team title in junior male category. Russian walkers were
instead overshadowed by the marvellous display of China, which ratified the
good impression it had given in Berlin. Chinese walkers performed brilliantly
under very challenging conditions of high altitude and extreme heat to win
three out of five team titles and complete an awesome 1-2 at the men’s 20km
thanks to Wang Hao and Chu Yafei, with 17-year-old Chen Ding also in the top-5.
Russia had just the small consolation of the bronze medal of Andrey Krivov. On
the other hand, María Vasco also fared very well in the heat and altitude of
Chihuahua to grab another title, beating the Portuguese duo of Vera Santos and
Ines Henriques. Portugal accomplished an awesome team victory as well, with Russia
and China playing second fiddle this time: Sokolova and Kirdyapkina just paid
their lack of experience, while Liu Hong only finished 13th, with
her younger compatriot Li Yanfei doing much better. Visibly out of shape, Liu
intended to peak for the Asian Games to be held in November.
After
the bronze medal of Eder Sánchez in Berlin, there were great expectations about
the performance of the Mexican walkers in a competition held at home.
Notwithstanding, Sánchez only managed a sixth place, while 50km specialist
Horacio Nava, a native of Chihuahua, had to live the bitter experience of being
overcome in the last stages of the race under his home crowd by Slovak Matej Toth. On the other hand, in that race Jared Tallent returned to a major podium after the dissapointment in Berlin. From the Latinoamerican
point of view it was maybe much more intriguing the victory of Colombian Eider
Arévalo in junior category, surprisingly upsetting Chinese and Russian hot
favourites, in the same way Italian Antonella Palmisano did among the
girls. There was talk we had witnessed the first international victory of the man who was to become Jefferson Pérez's heir.
 |
| Eider Arévalo wins the 10km walk junior gold medal at the 2010 World Cup in Chihuahua Photo: EFE http://www.elespectador.com |
Russia was not up for surprises at the European Champs
in Barcelona. If one year before in Berlin it had become the first nation to
win all the titles in race walking in a global championship, now it set another
record as its female walkers Olga Kaniskina, Anisya Kirdyapkina and Vera
Sokolova achieved a clean sweep of the podium. Kaniskina, who killed the race
mid-course walking two straight kilometres in 4:10, completed the triple crown
as Olympic, World and European champion. For her teammates, those medals meant
their come of age and a bright future. Two local girls battled for a place in
the podium: María Vasco and Beatriz Pascual, both coming from the Catalan city of Viladecans, the
cradle of female race walking in the country since the times of Mari Cruz Díaz
and Reyes Sobrino. However, Vasco, who was alternating big victories and huge
failures, had to retire with cramps under the disheartened crowd, while the
always consistent Pascual could not catch Sokolova and was eventually overcome
by Melanie Seeger to end 5th. Pascual preceded four girls based in
Portugal: Santos, Lithuanian Kristina Saltanovic, Cabecinha and Henriques.
By2010, a traditional
powerhouse in race walking as Spain was in sharp decline in men’s category,
having as only standouts 40th-year-old García Bragado and 37th-year-old
Odriozola. On the contrary, the women’s squad had never been so strong. Vasco
had won two major titles in two years, Pascual and Poves were in great shape
and the promising Julia Takacs was pushing the trio, claiming a spot in the
team. Portugal had a quartet as powerful. Susana Feitor, the absolute pioneer,
had not slowed much and Vera Santos, Ines Henriques and Ana Cabecinha, all of
them had reached their peak in those years. Unfortunately, the best Spanish and
Portuguese female teams ever had coincided in time with the most talented
Russian and Chinese generations in the whole history of race walking.
V aleriy Borchin did
not participate at the European Championships in Barcelona due to injury, but
Russia proved again its outstanding depth and awesome work at roots level.
Stanislav Yemelyanov, who had won in succesive years World Youth, World Junior
and European Junior gold medals was already claiming the spot as Russian number
one senior with his victories at the national winter and summer championships.
And in his first senior year he culminated his stunning progression with
another gold at the 20km walk in Barcelona, beating Olympic champion Alez
Schwazer in the process, while Joao Vieira accomplished his second straight
bronze at the contest for Portugal. On the other hand, Sergey Kirdyapkin failed
again to finish a 50km race and the same happened to Berlin silver medallist Trond Nymark and
Alex Schwazer. French Yohann Diniz, another walker with a rollercoaster-like
career and fragile confidence, had an impressive day to defend his continental
title in 3:40:37, the leading time of the year, under challenging conditions of
heat and humidity. Polish Sudol improved to silver from his fourth place in
Berlin, while Sergey Bakulin won the bronze for Russia, ahead of Heffernan and
crowd favourite Jesús Angel García.
As expected, China swept the race walking titles at the Asian Games. Hao Wang and Chu Yafei achieved another 1-2 at the men’s 20km, Si Tianfeng and Li Lei did the same at the 50km distance and Liu Hong and Li Yanfei won gold and bronze respectively in the female race, with Masumi Fuchise of Japan snatching the silver medal. Then it was revealed legendary coach Sandro Damilano had resigned with the Italian Federation to train Chinese athletes. Actually, the man who had accomplished nearly 50 titles in more than 40 years of coaching career, had already worked with several Chinese walkers, during their stages in the High Performance Centre of Saluzzo in 2009 and 2010, and his guidance had decisively contributed to their improvement. The Chinese Athletic Federation, who incidentally had also contacted Chegin, offered Damilano the post of head coach in race walking. Sandro was attired by the new challenge and the big economic incentives but at the same time he was also attached to the Centre of Saluzzo, he had co-founded in 2002 along with his twin brother Maurizio, and to some Italian athletes.
By
As expected, China swept the race walking titles at the Asian Games. Hao Wang and Chu Yafei achieved another 1-2 at the men’s 20km, Si Tianfeng and Li Lei did the same at the 50km distance and Liu Hong and Li Yanfei won gold and bronze respectively in the female race, with Masumi Fuchise of Japan snatching the silver medal. Then it was revealed legendary coach Sandro Damilano had resigned with the Italian Federation to train Chinese athletes. Actually, the man who had accomplished nearly 50 titles in more than 40 years of coaching career, had already worked with several Chinese walkers, during their stages in the High Performance Centre of Saluzzo in 2009 and 2010, and his guidance had decisively contributed to their improvement. The Chinese Athletic Federation, who incidentally had also contacted Chegin, offered Damilano the post of head coach in race walking. Sandro was attired by the new challenge and the big economic incentives but at the same time he was also attached to the Centre of Saluzzo, he had co-founded in 2002 along with his twin brother Maurizio, and to some Italian athletes.
In the end Sandro
Damilano chose a solution in the middle: he would keep living in the North of
Italy to train Giorgio Rubino, Elisa Rigaudo and Federico Tontodonati and he
would be taking up to six Chinese athletes for long stages with him in Saluzzo
as well. At the same time the Italian coach committed to travel to China to be
in charge of the national race walkers in key moments of the season. The chosen
ones were male and female respective number one in the country, Wang Hao and
Liu Hong, 50km specialist Si Tianfeng, world junior medallists Li Yanfei and
Cao Zelin and the big surprise was Wang Zhen, who was considered an average
athlete in his homecountry. Yet he improved so quickly with Damilano that in
the end of the year he had produced a shocking victory at the Race Walking
Challenge final, beating the 10km World junior record (37:44). Eventually, also other
Chinese athletes travelled occasionally to Saluzzo to enjoy Damilano’s guidance
as Yang Mingxia, Gao Ni, among the girls, and Yu Wei, Chu Yafei, Xu Faguang and
Chen Ding, among the boys. As the decorated coach pointed out, China had always
had talented race walkers but most lacked a good technique and consistency through
the years. To improve on these weak points was the target of Sandro Damilano.
Indeed if there was somebody able to produce athletes good enough to face the
invincible Russian walkers it was the long-experienced Italian coach. http://www.moti-athletics-20wk-w.blogspot.fr/2011/08/sandro-damilano-versus-viktor-chegin.html
 |
| Jesús Angel García Bragado, still winning medals at 40 years of age www.racewalk.com |
The race walking 2011 season was launched in style when Vera Sokolova outsprinted Anisya Kirdyapkina at the Russian Winter to set a new world record of 1:25:08, with her mate one second in arrears. After three straight years of no-homologated records in the contest, Russian officials made sure there would be all the necessary requirements this time, as the presence of international judges. Yet Olimpiada Ivanova and Olga Kaniskina had already run faster than the new official record. Vera Sokolova had lived two years before the atypical situation of becoming the first Chuvashian athlete accepted in the Saransk High Performance Centre. As a junior in Cheboksary, between 2003 and 2006, Vera had won almost everything: World Youth and European Junior titles and two World Cups in the latter category. However she had been left without a coach afterwards and was about to quit the sport, when Elena Nikolayeva asked Chegin to take her in Saransk. This move to the rival school relaunched Vera’s walking career. After her success at the Russian Winter, Sokolova achieved another victory at the European Cup in Olhao, Portugal, also defeating Kirdyapkina. In that contest Russia won all three titles at stake. Yemelyanov kept his momentum grabbing the 20km gold ahead of Matej Toth, while Nizhegorodov got the better of his compatriot Igor Yerokhin at the 50km. It was big news Yerokhin and also Vladimir Kanaykin and Sergey Morozov were back after their two years sanction and in great shape, although the latter of the trio would soon fail another doping test and would be getting a life ban.
In the early season there were impressive results in the 50km distance in several competitions. At the prestigious meeting in Dudince, local athlete Matej Toth won the race in 3:39:46. The World Cup gold medallist in Chihuahua led no less than four Polish race walkers: Fedaczynski, Sikora, Nowak and Augustyn, all of them under 3:47:00. Robert Korzeniowski, with his outstanding career, had spread the example all over the country and now Poland had become one of the nations with the largest depth in the event. Also in Dudince, World champion in Osaka, Nathan Deakes, met the A standard for Daegu in his first 50km race since 2007. On the other hand, double European champion Yohann Diniz made a succesful attempt in order to break the 50.000m world record on the track, setting a new best of 3:35:27. Then at the IAAF challenge meeting in Taicang, Si Tianfeng improved Toth’s time to 3:38:48 to beat Xu Faguang and Li Jianbo. Finally, European medallist Sergey Bakulin walked the 50km distance 2 seconds faster than Si at the Russian Summer Championships to grab the last spot for Daegu over Yuriy Andronov.
Olga Kaniskina and the reappeared Valeriy Borchin made a trip out of Russia to test themselves at the international meetings of Rio Maior and Sesto San Giovanni. However their impressive victories were outclashed by the Chinese walkers showings in Taicang, Lugano and Dublin. Liu Hong matched her 1:27:17 PB from Beijing Olympics in the former meeting, in a race that newcomer Qieyang Shenjie made the team for Daegu in a huge PB of 1:28:04. On the other hand, the revelation of 2010 Wang Zhen confirmed his stellar progression, with resounding triumphs in all three IAAF challenge meetings, completing in every occasion a 1-2-3 with his mates Chu Yafei and Chen Ding. These three athletes set the five fastest clockings in the men’s 20km for 2011, progressing to 1:18:30 (Wang), 1:18:38 (Chu) and 1:18:52 (Chen).
Did it mean Chinese
walkers were ready to steal the World Championship titles from Russians? Not
quite yet. When it mattered most, the race walkers from Saransk came in
outstanding shape, after a stage of one month in The Caucasian Mountains, and
for the second time in a row achieved the feat of winning all three titles, besides collecting 6 out of 9 medals. We can say the race walkers from Saransk because the whole 12 Russian
representatives in the specialty in Daegu came from the reputed High
Performance Centre of the capital of Mordovia.
Valeriy Borchin, who
had not lost a race since his Olympic victory in Beijing, was up to defend his
crown in the first walking race in Daegu, held again under heat and high
humidity. Giorgio Rubino and Yusuke Suzuki of Japan were the early leaders.
After some kilometres, the Italian lost ground and eventually was disqualified.
At half-race Suzuki had increased his gap over the main group to 37 seconds.
Then Borchin decided to go for the race and his main challenger Wang Zhen went
with him. Suzuki was overcome by the duo but Zhen could not hold anymore
Borchin’s demanding pace and the Russian progressively pulled away to become
only the third race walker with two straight victories in the 20km event at the
World Championships, after Maurizio Damilano and Jefferson Pérez, with a final
clocking of 1:19:56. World record holder Vladimir Kanaykin had a succesful
comeback winning also the silver medal for Russia and Zhen finished out of the
medals, after being passed as well by Luis Fernando López in the last stages of
the race. Thus López gave Colombia its first medal ever in the history of the
World Championships in Athletics. Yemelyanov finished 5th in his first global
race and local athlete Hyun-Sub Kim in 6th, showing the progression in the
specialty of South Korea, which also placed Chil-Sung Park into the top-8 at the
50km distance. Suzuki ended up 8th, just edging Alex Schwazer, who
had not made the 50km standard and had to try the shorter event. Chu Yafei and
Wang Hao, the latter not fitted enough after having been injured during the
season, finished out of the 10 best.
 |
| Susana Feitor became in Daegu the athlete with most appearances in the history of the World Championships in Athletics: 11! http://susanafeitor.blogspot.fr/ |
In the female race, the top Russian athletes Kaniskina, Kirdyapkina and Sokolova made the race tough for the rest of the field with succesive accelerations, until only Chinese Liu Hong could keep with them. Surprisingly, the newly minted record holder Vera Sokolova, who seemed the most dangerous contender for Kaniskina, lost contact with the leading group and drifted back until 11th place. Kirdyapkina was the first to surge but it was the defending champion who made the decisive move at the 14km mark, opening a 30 second gap over her compatriot. Yet Liu Hong came strongly from behind to pass Anisya, and Olga Kaniskina was not sure of her victory until she crossed the finish line. In the end, Olga achieved to increase her record in the championships to three consecutive gold medals, in a winning time of 1:29:42. Liu won the silver medal and Kirdyapkina the bronze. Elisa Rigaudo, in her comeback year from maternity, obtained a praiseworthy 4th place, well ahead the second Chinese Qieyang Shenjie. Beatriz Pascual, who bravely raced ahead, looking for a medal, encouraged by her excellent performances in Rio Maior and Sesto San Giovanni, where she was the closest to Kaniskina, paid the price of sustaining the hot pace of the Russians and eventually faded to 9th. On the other hand, the Portuguese trio adopted more conservative tactics, racing in a second group and thus they were fresher to overcome tiring rivals in the last stages of the race. Susana Feitor was the best of her team in sixth place, just edging Ana Cabecinha. 36th-year-old Feitor was taken part in Daegu in her 11th world Championship, a record of appearances in the contest in any event.
Unlike the other
walking competitions, the 50km were held in cool and cloudy weather. Nathan
Deakes in his comeback to major competition, after so many injuries, took the
initiative from the beginning along with hot favourite Yohann Diniz. Unfortunately
for the French he was given the red paddle, and Deakes stood alone
in the lead pushing the pace, going through half way with 37 seconds over
Bakulin. Yet, the Russian closed up on Deakes and overtook him at the 30km
mark. Minutes later the Australian had to stop several times due to cramps and
eventually leave the race in despair. The dream of a new gold medal was over
for the former World Champion. Bakulin increased his gap over the rest of the
field and held comfortably the lead until the end to win in 3:41:24. Finally
the time had come for the 27th-year-old Russian, always a consistent
performer, but who had never be considered brilliant enough to triumph in an
important race. Initially a 20km specialist, Bakulin had only made the Russian
team twice in the past, with a best placement of 5th at the 2006
Europeans in Goteborg. In 2009, he decided to switch to the 50km distance,
which does not have such a deep field in his country as the shorter event, to
have more chances of qualifying for global competitions. A native of Insar as
Sergey Kirdyapkin but six years younger, Bakulin had always tried to follow in
the double World champion’s footsteps, whom he believes is the perfect race
walker, because of his outstanding technique.
This time around,
however, Kirdyapkin had no chance to defend his title and had to drop because
of injury. Yet another Russian, Denis Nizhegorodov accomplished the silver medal
in 3:42:45. The solid Jared Tallent won the bronze, ahead of Si Tianfeng and
the second Australian Luke Adams. Japan in an excellent collective performance
placed all its three representatives, Morioka, Tanii and Arai, among the 10 best.
On the other hand, Polish walkers, specially European silver medallist Grzegorz
Sudol, did not live up to the expectations. Sudol dropped out as so did Slovak
star Matej Toth.
The 2011 season was closed with the Pan American Games, held in Guadalajara. Mexico was again the host country of a race walking contest, just one year after the World Cup in Chihuahua. On this occasion, Horacio Nava used better tactics and won the 50km gold, ahead of countryman José Leyver Ojeda. On the other hand, Eder Sánchez and Diego Flores executed a poor race at the 20km distance, ending up 6th and 7th and the host nation did not win any medal either in the female competition. In the end, in spite of the 50km medals, Mexican walkers did not deliver a showing in Chihuahua and Guadalajara to make believe his own public there was a way out of the huge crisis in the sector, which started when legendary Coach Jerzy Hausleber retired and every Mexican athlete started training his own way instead of sharing methods and experiences as a team as it happened in the past. Once the greatest powerhouse of the specialty, for nearly a decade Mexico had only had two race walkers able to compete for international medals: Eder Sánchez and Horacio Nava. The former athlete eventually won a bronze in Berlin but then he dropped to 6th in Chihuahua and then to 14th in Daegu. The latter, with the exception of the World Cup held at home, looked unable in the last couple of years of making at least the top-
Mexico
had not only been surpassed at world level but also at American level. The
standards were quickly rising in many different places in the continent and as a
prove, in the 2011 South American Championship, held in Buenos Aires on the
track, no less than four athletes of four different countries dipped under
1:21:00: Andrés Chocho (Ecuador), Gustavo Restrepo (Colombia), Yerko Araya
(Chile) and Caio Bonfim (Brazil). Colombia specially could perfectly claim the
spot of number one nation in the continent soon with the likes of Luis Fernando
López, top-5 in
the last three major international competitions, Gustavo Restrepo, James Rendón,
and watch out for the stars on the making: after the sensational victory of
Eider Arévalo in Chihuahua, in the next edition of World Cup in 2012 in Saransk, Colombia
would win both junior titles with Arévalo and also Sandra Arenas in female
category, and both athletes would medal again at the World Junior Championships
in Barcelona (Arévalo gold and Arenas bronze).
Nevertheless, the true revelation in the area was Guatemala, who won no less than four medals at the Pan American Games, including two golds, to outmatch the host country Mexico. Almost coming from nowhere, youngsters Erick Barrondo and Jamy Franco, who had been largely seen in front of the pack without any inhibition at the recent World Champs, led the shocking display of the Guatemalan team at the race walking events in Guadalajara. Barrondo, 10th in Daegu, got the better of the likes of James Rendón, Luis Fernando López and Eder Sánchez at the men’s 20km race, while Franco led her compatriot Mirna Ortiz for a groundbreaking 1-2 for Guatemala in the female contest. And the best of all they had high hopes of medalling in the upcoming Saransk World Cup and London Olympic Games. Cuban Rigoberto Medina owned most of the credit for this stunning Guatemalan progression in race walking. The coach who had made become Cristina López a Pan American Champion in2007 in his stage in El Salvador, was now up
for more surprises in his new adopted country.
http://www.moti-athletics-20wk-m.blogspot.fr/2011/10/guatemala-emerges-from-pan-american.html
Nevertheless, the true revelation in the area was Guatemala, who won no less than four medals at the Pan American Games, including two golds, to outmatch the host country Mexico. Almost coming from nowhere, youngsters Erick Barrondo and Jamy Franco, who had been largely seen in front of the pack without any inhibition at the recent World Champs, led the shocking display of the Guatemalan team at the race walking events in Guadalajara. Barrondo, 10th in Daegu, got the better of the likes of James Rendón, Luis Fernando López and Eder Sánchez at the men’s 20km race, while Franco led her compatriot Mirna Ortiz for a groundbreaking 1-2 for Guatemala in the female contest. And the best of all they had high hopes of medalling in the upcoming Saransk World Cup and London Olympic Games. Cuban Rigoberto Medina owned most of the credit for this stunning Guatemalan progression in race walking. The coach who had made become Cristina López a Pan American Champion in
 |
| The female Guatemalan race walking team in London Olympic village http://noticias.emisorasunidas.com |
As usual, the 2012 race walking season began with
excellent results at the Russian Winter Championships in February. Being an
Olympic year, a good placement was important in order to have chances for
qualifying for the World Cup in Saransk and ultimately for London Olympic
Games. The women’s 20km was a specially fast race with no less than 8 athletes
under 1:28:30. A very young trio made the team for Saransk. Former European
junior champion Elmira Alembekova won the race in 1:25:27, ahead of teen wonder
Elena Lashmanova in her first senior competition (1:26:30) and Chuvashian
athlete Irina Yumanova (1:26:47). However, the favourite Vera Sokolova put in
jeopardy her Olympic chances, after being disqualified, the same than Stanislav
Yemelyanov, who only could accomplish a 4th place in the men’s 20km.
In that race the winner was Andrey Ruzavin in 1:17:47, ahead of Andrey Krivov
(1:18:25) and Sergey Morozov, later in the year banned for doping. Sergey
Kirdyapkin won the longest race, the 35km, to qualify for the World Cup, along
up-and-coming race walkers Ryzhov and Noskov. Nizhegorodov was absent for the
Olympic year due to injury.
One month later came the Chinese answer at the IAAF challenge meeting in Taicang. In spite of the heavy rain, both male and female 20km walk Asian records were broken in the competition by Wang Zhen and Liu Hong respectively in a huge boost of confidence for them for the upcoming Olympic Games. In the female race, Liu improved her PB in more than 1 minute to clock 1:25:46. The former Asian record had been set by Wang Yang with 1:26:22, back in 2001. 18th-year-old Lu Xiuzhi completed an amazing race to achieved an unexpected qualification for London in 1:27:01, just edging Daegu’s fifth placer Qieyang Shenjie. Zhen clocked 1:17:36 to erase Zhu Hongjun’s previous record from 2005 by 5 seconds. Equally impressive was the come of age of Chen Ding, the youngster who had won the World junior silver medal in 2008 aged 15. Chen’s time (1:17:40) was also under the previous area record. Another world junior medallist, Cai Zelin, finished third and thus booked his ticket for Saransk and London. Still faster than Wang Zhen, Alex Schwazer won the meeting of Lugano to set the world lead in the distance with 1:17:30, to beat another 50km specialist, Yohann Diniz (1:17:43), both setting respective Italian and French records. However even more remarkable than this victory of Schwazer, and the one of Tatyana Sibileva among the girls, were the huge PBs of Guatemalan athletes Erick Barrondo (1:18:25), Mirna Sucely Ortiz (1:28:54 AR), Jamy Amarilis Franco (1:30:57) and Mayra Carolina Herrera (1:31:03). Now Guatemala was heading to London with a full three member female team.
One month later came the Chinese answer at the IAAF challenge meeting in Taicang. In spite of the heavy rain, both male and female 20km walk Asian records were broken in the competition by Wang Zhen and Liu Hong respectively in a huge boost of confidence for them for the upcoming Olympic Games. In the female race, Liu improved her PB in more than 1 minute to clock 1:25:46. The former Asian record had been set by Wang Yang with 1:26:22, back in 2001. 18th-year-old Lu Xiuzhi completed an amazing race to achieved an unexpected qualification for London in 1:27:01, just edging Daegu’s fifth placer Qieyang Shenjie. Zhen clocked 1:17:36 to erase Zhu Hongjun’s previous record from 2005 by 5 seconds. Equally impressive was the come of age of Chen Ding, the youngster who had won the World junior silver medal in 2008 aged 15. Chen’s time (1:17:40) was also under the previous area record. Another world junior medallist, Cai Zelin, finished third and thus booked his ticket for Saransk and London. Still faster than Wang Zhen, Alex Schwazer won the meeting of Lugano to set the world lead in the distance with 1:17:30, to beat another 50km specialist, Yohann Diniz (1:17:43), both setting respective Italian and French records. However even more remarkable than this victory of Schwazer, and the one of Tatyana Sibileva among the girls, were the huge PBs of Guatemalan athletes Erick Barrondo (1:18:25), Mirna Sucely Ortiz (1:28:54 AR), Jamy Amarilis Franco (1:30:57) and Mayra Carolina Herrera (1:31:03). Now Guatemala was heading to London with a full three member female team.
Saransk, which had become in recent years the Mecca of
race walking, held during the month of May a new edition of the World Cup. The
most decorated athletes of the capital of the Republic of Mordovia, Olga
Kaniskina and Valeriy Borchin, had definitely come to the rendezvous. However,
as a prelude of London Games scenario, it was precisely in front of the crowd
which admired them so much that they were going to suffer shocking defeats.
Olga had been unbreakable in major competitions since the 2007 World
Championships in Osaka; Valeriy had not lost a single race since he became
Olympic champion in London. Understandably, expecting to peak in London, they
were not at the top of their game yet, specially Borchin, but it was a good
warning.
In the 20km race,
Chinese Wang Zhen, who had won in experience and stability, beat handily
Russians Krivov and Kanaykin on their own home turf. Yet both local runners had
at least the consolation of the team victory and specially of their
qualification for the Olympic Games, which their compatriot Ruzavin could not
achieve despite his previous run of 1:17:47 and his 5th place in the
contest. Besides China and Russia, Ukraine also stood out with three race
walkers among the best 12: Dmytrenko, Kovalenko and Losev. Borchin could only
manage a 9th place.
Liu Hong was not competing
and it was easier for Russia in the female race. With local race walkers
largely dominating the race, Kaniskina and the young Lashmanova were well ahead
of the rest in the crucial stages of the competition. Unexpectedly it was the
upcoming athlete in only her second outing over the distance who made the move,
and the experienced Kaniskina had no answer. In the end, Lashmanova gapped the
three times world champion in almost a minute. Spanish María José Poves
finished strongly to take the bronze. Poves, who had won the national
championships in 1:28:15 over María Vasco and Beatriz Pascual was in the shape
of her life. Chinese revelation Lu
Xiuzhi ended up 4th, edging Pascual and a fading Kirdyapkina. Elena
Lashmanova was one of only four athletes, along with Jodie Williams, Angelica
Bengtsson and Kevin Mayer, who had won gold at the 2009 World Youth Champs in
Bressanone, then at the 2010 World Juniors in Moncton and finally at the 2011
European Juniors in Tallin, where Elena had set a new world junior record at
the 10.000m walk. Much was expected of the new Saransk wonder but maybe not so
soon. With only 20 years of age, Lashmanova was now a clear candidate to
Olympic gold in London.
The 50km contest was another display of powerful race walking by the host country. Kirdyapkin, Bakulin and Yerokhin worked as a team to break Australian Jared Tallent and they eventually achieved it. Amazingly for such a long event, the eventual victory was decided in a quick sprint, in which Kirdyapkin had the better of his mate Yerokhin. Tallent climbed again to an international podium, while Si Tianfeng finished in 4th position and newly-minted world champion Sergey Bakulin could only manage a 5th place.
The 50km contest was another display of powerful race walking by the host country. Kirdyapkin, Bakulin and Yerokhin worked as a team to break Australian Jared Tallent and they eventually achieved it. Amazingly for such a long event, the eventual victory was decided in a quick sprint, in which Kirdyapkin had the better of his mate Yerokhin. Tallent climbed again to an international podium, while Si Tianfeng finished in 4th position and newly-minted world champion Sergey Bakulin could only manage a 5th place.
.jpg) |
| Wang Zhen, Valeriy Borchin, Erick Barrondo, Chen Ding and Vladimir Kanaykin, lead the 20km race walk final at the 2012 London Olympic Games Photo: Paul Hackett http://www.iltasanomat.fi/yleisurheilu/art-1288489363374.html |
Some days before the
beginning of the race walking events in London Olympic Games, it was announced
that Alex Schwazer had failed a doping test. In tears, the 50km defending
champion confessed, in front of journalists, he had used EPO to keep being
competitive. Then he announced his retirement from athletics. After this
incident and with Ivano Brugnetti, the other Italian gold medallist at the
Olympics in recent times, also retired, there was no chance for this nation for
another Olympic medal in London, specially with Rubino not performing well.
Maybe Italian fans will have to rely in their female athletes Elisa Rigaudo and
the upcoming Eleonora Giorgi and Antonella Palmisano for future feats.
The men’s 20km
opened the race walking program in London. Would be able Chinese athletes of
upsetting again Borchin and his Russian teammates? Yusuke Suzuki was again the early leader but
his lonely cavalcade had no consequences. When the decisive moment came, the
most active walker in the leading group was not Wang Zhen as expected but
instead his younger compatriot Chen Ding. In his first move, Chen reduced the
pack to only six athletes: himself, Wang, Russians Valeriy Borchin and Vladimir
Kanaykin, Erick Barrondo of Guatemala and Luis López of Colombia. After López
and Kanaykin were given the red paddle, the contenders for the medals were down
to four. Then Chen surged again. Borchin tried to cover the move but with no
avail. Besides Barrondo and Wang came strongly and overcame him. In a last
desperate effort, the defending champion dramatically collapsed with one
kilometre to go. Chen Ding kept succesfully his gap to become the second male
Chinese Olympic champion in athletics after Liu Xiang. His winning time 1:18:46
was a new Olympic record. Barrondo won a sensational first medal ever for
Guatemala at the Olympic Games in 1:18:57 and Wang the bronze in 1:19:25. Cai
Zelin came from behind to take the fourth place and thus complete a more than
impressive 1-3-4 for China. Sandro Damilano had reaped the fruits of his
excellent work and it was arguably the greatest triumph for the Italian coach
in a more than successful 40 years career. Miguel Angel López, the European
U-23 gold medallist back in 2009, made his senior breakthrough with a very good
5th place, in very good news for Spain, which finally seemed to have
found a male standout in the sector. He
edged Eder Sánchez, Tallent and up and coming French walker Bertrand Moulinet.
Kolothum Thodi Irfan made the top-10 and break the national record, showing the
quick rising of India into the walking elite.
The 50km walk race
was also an emotive and high quality one with plenty of alternatives and changes
of leadership. Russian athletes Sergey Kirdyapkin and Sergey Bakulin took
control of the pack from the beginning, setting a demanding and increasingly
quicker pace. For long time 12 athletes formed the leading group: Kirdyapkin,
Bakulin, Yohann Diniz of France, two Guatemalan: Barrondo and Jaime Quiyuch, Si
Tianfeng of China, three Australians: Jared Tallent, Luke Adams and Nathan
Deakes, the third Russian Igor Yerokhin, Andrés Chocho of Ecuador and Yuki
Yamazaki of Japan. Irish Robert Heffernan chased in hot pursuit, heading a
smaller group with Li Jianbo and Takayuki Tanii. Before the 15km Chocho and
Yamazaki were disqualified, reducing the pack to 10 athletes. Approaching the half-way mark started the true
race. Bakulin began to push harder to stretch the group. At this point Quiyuch
was also given the red paddle. Eventually the reigning World champion went away
along with Barrondo, while their followers began to spread out, with the likes
of Kirdyapkin, Tallent and Si suffering and losing ground. However the race was
not over: Deakes came back to the leaders and soon afterwards Diniz and
Yerokhin as well. More remarkably, Si Tianfeng, who seemed done, more than 100m
behind, came pass the five-men leading group to take a huge lead. Now Barrondo,
then Deakes, then Diniz drifted back, while Kirdyapkin joined the two other
Russians to work together in order to chase Si, what they achieved at the 40km
mark. Kirdyapkin did not wait much to make his own decisive move and break
again the group. With everybody struggling, Tallent progressed to silver medal position in tough fight with Si,
while Barrondo, lost behind, was eventually disqualified just like his mate
Quiyuch, and Deakes was lapped. Kirdyapkin showed the strength of a rock
and dit not let anybody approach him anymore. In a tremendous closing,
Kirdyapkin broke the Olympic record to win in 3:35:59. Jared Tallent repeated
his silver medal from Beijing in 3:36:53 and Si Tianfeng won the first medal
ever for China in the event in 3:37:16. In an impressive recovery, Heffernan
outsprinted Yerokhin for 4th place. On the other hand, Bakulin was
only half-happy with his 6th place, after leading most of the way. A
second Chinese, Li Jianbo, finished 7th and Matej Toth completed the
top-8. In
arguably the deepest 50km walk race in history, no less than seven men broke
3:40:00 and perennial Jesús Angel García, in his 6th Olympic
appearance, had to accomplished 3:48:32 to just meet the top-20.
Unlike the 50km
event, the female 20km walk final only had one leader all over. Almost! Knowing that everything Olga Kaniskina had
achieved in athletics had been thanks to hard work and perseverance, we can imagine
how she had prepared the London Olympic Games, after her shocking defeat to
Lashmanova in Saransk World Cup. For the awaited final, Olga adopted simple
tactics: if someone was to beat her again and take her Olympic crown she would
need to walk really really fast. The defending champion, just like four years
before in Beijing, went away from the gun, setting a 4:15 pace for kilometre,
that is world record pace. Yet, while Lashmanova did not go after Kaniskina and
decided to do her own race inside the pack, Liu Hong covered the move. She was
ambitious enough to aim for gold anf it cost her to be left out of the podium
again at the Olympics. Kaniskina and Liu raced together for three laps. Behind
them a chasing pack was trying to keep the gap in reasonable limits.
Enthusiastically all three Guatemalan girls and also all three Colombians
(Hernández, Orjuela and Arenas) were leading that group, along with Russian and
Chinese athletes, Belarus Yatsevich and Elisa Rigaudo. On the other hand, learning
the lesson from Daegu, Spanish athletes adopted more cautious tactics this time
sitting out of trouble in a second group and so did the Portuguese. Eventually,
when Mirna Ortiz was disqualified, in the chasing pack only remained
the two other Russians (Kirdyapkina and Lashmanova) and the two other Chinese
(Qieyang Shenjie and Lu Xiuzhi), with Rigaudo racing on her own some metres
behind just like in Daegu.
Kaniskina’s rhythm
proved to hot to handle for Liu. The Asian champion would remain alone in
second place for several kilometres until she was eventually caught after the
12km point by the chasing pack, now reduced to three: Kirdyapkina, Lashmanova
and Qieyang. The leader, who had past through half way in 42:33, was still
keeping a comfortable gap of about 40 seconds. However, Lashmanova took command
of the chasing group and began to accelerate with Qieyang right behind her, to
cover the 8th lap (2km) in 8:24. Now Kaniskina produced her fastest
lap of the race (8:27) but Lashmanova was even quicker (8:20), so the leader
heard the sound of the bell just a few
seconds before the chasing duo did. Fresh and relaxed, Elena Lashmanova rallied
past Olga Kaniskina in the very last 100m to become the youngest female Olympic
champion ever in race walking, setting a new world record (1:25:02). Kaniskina
finished second in 1:25:09 and Qieyang won the fourth medal of the Games in
race walking for China, breaking Liu Hong’s Asian record in the process
(1:25:16). Liu finished in 4th place in 1:26:00 and Kirdyapkina 5th
in 1:26:26. All five women dipped under the previous Olympic record. Like the
50km final, it was the highest quality race ever in the event at the Olympic
Games. Lu Xiuzhi achieved the 6th place to complete the overwhelming
domination of Russian and Chinese athletes and Rigaudo was the best of the
rest, ahead of Beatriz Pascual, Ana Cabecinha and María Vasco. Amazingly,
Kaniskina said she had not realised about her rival shortening her gap and a
modest Lashmanova stated that she had never expected to beat Olga at the top of
her game and she was only trying to secure a medal with her move. Anyway, it
was really sad to see the defeated Kaniskina go to congratulate the new
champion, broke and limping after her desperate final effort. Yet generations
come and generations go. That is life!
In the overall
ranking for the Olympic cycle 2009-2012 in race walking, Russia won eventually the
battle for the ages, with 1368 points to 1054 collected by China, yet the Asian
nation made a huge progression during these years, because for the previous
period 2005-2008, they had lost 1228 to 799. Russia dominated the female 20km
walk tallying 620 points against 373 of China. See TEAMS RANKING These two nations alone ranked
27 athletes in the final top-50
in the event in a stranglehold which continues since the
very first female global competitions in race walking. Enough to say that, in
the IAAF all-time lists in the event, all 30 best performers belong to either
Russia or China with the only exception of Ryta Turava of Belarus.
On the other hand,
China defeated Russia in the male 20km event 441 to 379 points, thanks mainly
to their impressive showing at the Olympic Games in London. Finally, the victory
at the longest event, the 50km walk went to Russia, which scored 369 points
against 240 amassed by their archrivals. This specialty remained the most open
to other alternative nations among the three race walking Olympic events with
“only” 13 athletes between Russia and China in the overall top-50. Nevertheless,
Russia snatched gold in no less than 6 out 8 major competitions held between
2009-2012, including Berlin and Daegu World Championships and London Olympic
Games, where Sergey Kirdyapkin became the first Russian Olympic champion in 50km walk since
1992. | Women20kWalk | Men20kWalk | Men50kWalk | ||||||||
1
|
Elena Lashmanova
|
RUS
|
1
|
Chen Ding
|
CHN
|
1
|
Sergey Kirdyapkin
|
RUS
| ||
2
|
Olga Kaniskina
|
RUS
|
2
|
Wang Zhen
|
CHN
|
2
|
Jared Tallent
|
AUS
| ||
3
|
Liu Hong
|
CHN
|
3
|
Valeriy Borchin
|
RUS
|
3
|
Sergey Bakulin
|
RUS
| ||
4
|
Anisya Kirdyapkina
|
RUS
|
4
|
Erick Barrondo
|
GUA
|
4
|
Si Tianfeng
|
CHN
| ||
5
|
Qieyang Shenjie
|
CHN
|
5
|
Eder Sánchez
|
MEX
|
5
|
Denis Nizhegorodov
|
RUS
| ||
6
|
Beatriz Pascual
|
ESP
|
6
|
Vladimir Kanaykin
|
RUS
|
6
|
Robert Heffernan
|
IRL
| ||
7
|
Elisa Rigaudo
|
ITA
|
7
|
Luis Fernando López
|
COL
|
7
|
Igor Yerokhin
|
RUS
| ||
8
|
Vera Sokolova
|
RUS
|
8
|
Cai Zelin
|
CHN
|
8
|
Matej Toth
|
SVK
| ||
9
|
Lu Xiuzhi
|
CHN
|
9
|
Stanislav Yemelyanov
|
RUS
|
9
|
Yohann Diniz
|
FRA
| ||
10
|
Olive Loughnane
|
IRL
|
10
|
Wang Hao
|
CHN
|
10
|
Koichiro Morioka
|
JPN
| ||
11
|
Ana Cabecinha
|
POR
|
11
|
Jared Tallent
|
AUS
|
11
|
Jesús Angel García
|
ESP
| ||
12
|
María Vasco
|
ESP
|
12
|
Robert Heffernan
|
IRL
|
12
|
Andre Hohne
|
GER
| ||
13
|
Ines Henriques
|
POR
|
13
|
Andrey Krivov
|
RUS
|
13
|
Li Jianbo
|
CHN
| ||
14
|
Masumi Fuchise
|
JPN
|
14
|
Joao Vieira
|
POR
|
14
|
Luke Adams
|
AUS
| ||
15
|
Maria José Poves
|
ESP
|
15
|
Miguel Angel López
|
ESP
|
15
|
Xu Faguang
|
CHN
| ||
16
|
Tatyana Sibileva
|
RUS
|
16
|
Matej Toth
|
SVK
|
16
|
Marco De Luca
|
ITA
| ||
17
|
Elmira Alembekova
|
RUS
|
17
|
Giorgio Rubino
|
ITA
|
17
|
Lukasz Nowak
|
POL
| ||
18
|
Kristina Saltanovic
|
LTU
|
18
|
Andrey Ruzavin
|
RUS
|
18
|
Park Chil-Sung
|
KOR
| ||
19
|
Vera Santos
|
POR
|
19
|
Kim Hyun-Sub
|
KOR
|
19
|
Grzegorz Sudol
|
POL
| ||
20
|
Lyudmila Arkhipova
|
RUS
|
20
|
Yohann Diniz
|
FRA
|
20
|
Yuki Yamazaki
|
JPN
|
Check out the whole TOP-50 RANKING and complete STATISTICS for every event above/*
