Beautiful day in Taicang for the planned leg of the IAAF race walking Challenge, with a temperature around 20° Celsius at the beginning of the competition for men that is broadcast live from the channel CCTV5 in China dedicated to Sport.
There are athletes coming from Australia with Jared Tallent, Chris Erickson and Dane Bird-Smith, athletes from Mexico with Omar Segura and two brothers Ever and Isaac Palma, the Japanese Kay Kobayashi and Satoshi Maruo, the Colombian Eider Arevalo, recent winner in Rio Maior, and Chinese Chen Ding, Li Tianlei and Gao Wenkui. They are unfortunately absent the most important European athletes who are preparing for the European Cup in Murcia.
At female level athlete stand out the Australian (Beki Smith and Kell Ruddick in particular), the Colombian Sandra Arenas, while the Chinese team is very strong with Lu Xiuzhi that so impressed the test event in Beijing last March, along with Sun Huanhuan Duan and Dandan.
20 km men
Fast start of Chen Ding (7:57 first round) and behind him a group of about ten athletes including other Chinese Wang Kaihua, Gao Wenkui and Luo Yadong, the Japanese Kay Kobayashi and Satoshi Maruo, the Australians Dane Bird-Smith and Chris Erickson, the Koreans and Kim Hyunsub and Kin Daeho.
Jared Tallent seems to want to make a session of training and walk in the rear.
The situation does not change after the first 10 km. The only thing that has changed is the temperature now hovers around 28°, but still tends to rise (it will be the end of the race women of almost 32°).
Chen Ding pass at 0 km in 39: t6 (with these splits per lap: 7:57, 8:00, 8:01, 7:59, 7:59).
Behind him in the pack some athletes lose positions and decide to abandon (Ever and Isaac Palma, MEX - Thiago Fonseca, BRA - Sandor Racz, HUN - Eider Arevalo, COL).
For victory seems to be no more story: Chen Ding continues unabated and a bit Gascon (remember that London 2012) to grind km with his pace.
For the other positions of the podium fight the Chinese Wang Kaihua, the Korean Kim Hyunsub, Australian Bird Dane Smith and Mexicans Jesus Tadeo Vega and Omar Segura, while the Korean Kim Daeho is disqualified.
Chen Ding has no difficulty to win the race in 1:19:53, which considering the outside temperature and humidity is an excellent performance.
These partial in his second five laps: 7:57, 8:01, 8:03, 8:02 and finishing in 7:54.
In the fight for silver win Wang Kaihua in 1:21:17, in front of Korean Kin Hyunsun (1:21:34); the Mexican Jesus Tadeo Vega was disqualified.
Fourth is the Mexican Junio Cesar Salazar (1:21:43) in front of Dane Bird-Smith (1:22:12) and Satoshi Maruo (1:22:48).
Of the twenty-seven athletes who competed for the IAAF Challenge, 19 have completed the race, 5 and 3 DNF DQ.
Thick instead participation for the Chinese Championships that were held concurrently.
20 km women
The women's race however has little history.
The favorite Lu Xhiuzi part very slowly as if to do a training session and will stop after 10 km.
In the lead group of eight athletes including the Chinese Duan Dandan, Hou Yongbo and Sun Huanhuan, the Colombian Sandra Arenas, the Australian Beki Smith, the Mexican Monica Equihua and Hungarian Victorias Madarasz.
With the passing of laps the team crumbles under the action of two Chinese Duan Dandan and Hou Yongbo, covering the first 10 km with the following splits per lap: (9:28, 9:22: 9:14, 9: 05, 9:04)
For other positions the fight is between Sun Huanhuan, Sandra Arena and Beki Smith.
The Australian resists up to 16 km, when she was DQ by the jury (two laps before it was disqualified the Japanese Chiaki Asada).
Recovers positions Victoria Madarasz and try to reach in fourth position the Colombian Sandra Arenas.
The hot weather is now the master of the race.
Strength in the final round Duan Dandan and went on to win in 1:32:21 (splits per lap of second 10 km: 9:11, 9:17, 9:16, 9:19: 9:05) in front of teammate Hiu Yongbo in 1:32:59.
Third the other athlete of China Sun Huanhuan (1:33:57) in front of Sandra Arenas (1:34:14) and Victoria Madarasz (1:35:06).
Of the 16 athletes for the IAAF Challenge games, 11 have completed the race, 3 and 2 DNF DQ.
Needless to point out the large participation of the Chinese athletes for their championships.
But Duan Dandan was not the fastest female race walker on course. Extra IAAF challenge event the 21-year-old Youth Olympic silver medallist Mao Yanxue, whose name was only on the domestic entry list, clocked 1:32:17 to win the national Chinese title.
(the report by Vincent Wu on IAAF web-site)
Olympic champion Chen Ding led all the way from the start to secure his first victory at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting in Taicang on Friday (1) while IAAF World Race Walking Cup junior winner Duan Dandan upset a strong field in the women’s race to maintain China’s dominance.
It was Chen’s fourth appearance at the meeting in Taicang and the fifth consecutive year he has competed in the Chinese city as it hosted last year’s World Race Walking Cup. But it was the first time that the 22-year-old had made it on to the top step of the podium in Taicang, winning in a season’s best of 1:19:53.
Chen and Japan’s Kai Kobayashi took an early lead, but Chen soon forged ahead on his own, leading after the first two-kilometre lap.
Kobayashi, who set his best time of 1:19:12 to finish fourth at the highly competitive Asian 20km Race Walking Championships in Nomi in March, was soon caught by the chasing group. Nobody else managed to pose a real threat to the lonely leading Chen.
Chen went through 4km in 15:57 and the half-way mark in 39:56. Chen’s margin had grown to more than a minute after the sixth lap. From there on, he never looked back.
“Today’s strategy is very successful, although I felt a little bit tired at the end,” said Chen, who usually opts for a more patient strategy.
“I did not think too much about the victory. I just wanted to try this strategy and get prepared for the World Championships in August,” he added. “In Beijing it will also be very hot, hopefully I can race to my best level by then. I was very relaxed and in general I am satisfied with my performance.”
Chen’s winning mark is more than two minutes slower than his personal best of 1:17:40 set in Taicang in 2012, but it was a significant improvement on his previous season’s best of 1:21:11, set when finishing third at the National Race Walk Grand Prix in Beijing.
China’s Wang Kaihua cut five seconds from his PB set in March as the sixth-place finisher at the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships emerged from the chasing group to finish second in 1:21:17.
South Korea’s Kim Hyunsub, who bettered the national record to 1:19:13 in Nomi, clocked 1:21:43 to finish third.
The IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Taicang has usually been held in March or April but the event has been consistently bothered by rain. This time the races was staged in clear conditions but the relatively high temperature, which was higher than 20C, caused some trouble for the race walkers, especially in the women’s 20km.
The 19-year-old Duan Dandan, the junior 10km winner at the 2014 World Race Walking Cup in the same city, took a surprising victory as she out-shone some of her more experienced team-mates to record a best time of 1:32:21, 24 seconds faster than her previous PB set in La Coruna in 2013.
The 20-year-old Hou Yongbo, winner of the 2015 Asian 20km Race Walking Championships in Nomi, trailed 38 seconds behind to finish second, while defending champion Sun Huanhuan clocked 1:33:57 to finish third. Colombia’s Sandra Arenas was fourth in 1:34:14.
Pre-race favourite Lu Xiuzhi, who set an Asian record of 1:25:12 in March, dropped out after 10km while another Chinese athlete Nie Jingjing, whose PB is 1:27:51, failed to finish as well.
But Duan was not the fastest female race walker on course. The challenge event in Taicang was conducted together with the Chinese Grand Prix and 21-year-old Youth Olympic silver medallist Mao Yanxue, whose name was only on the domestic entry list, clocked 1:32:17 to win the national grand prix title.
It was the fourth edition of event since the challenge meeting was first launched in 2011. Chinese female race walkers have grabbed the top three places in all the four races.
Vincent Wu for the IAAF
A phase of female 20 km
Chen Ding during last lap
Another phase of female race