The recent opening of the IAAF to inaugural world record of 50km race walk women, and the result of Ines Henriques yesterday in Porto de Mos (POR) open important scenarios in the women's walk.

• How long can today in terms of time the performance of 4:08:26 obtained by Ines Henriques ?
• What could be the potential on the 50km race walk world record for an athlete of the top 10 women in world rank whether she wants race with a typical methodological approach of a 50km and not as occasional race ?
• Is supposable today think soon see the first minus 4:00:00 in the 50km race walk women?

Marcia dal Mondo has posed this questions to Sandro Damilano, thanks to his experience in time on training and on the results of men and women athletes both on long distance (50km) and on the short (20km).

The answer was immediate and without a shadow of doubt: "I think a top walker coached for 50km. can go down quietly under the 4h".

We have analyzed together with him the history of records in males from a current fixed point: the world record in the women's 20km which actually is 1:24:38

To find a world record in the 20km men near the time of the women's records we have to go back to 1972, forty-five years ago. At that time the men's world record holder in 20km. was Paul Nihill (GBR) in 1:24:50 (today Liu Hong: 1:24:38).

Also in 1972, the world record holder in 50km. men was Bernd Kannenberg (3:52:45) obtained in Bremen (GER) on May 27, 1972.

Taking also into account the different muscle strength among men and women (which is very important in 50km.), however it is clear enough that a good female walker can go down, if methodologically trained for this race, under the 4h.

The same Sandro Damilano told us "I had already proposed to Liu Hong after the Olympics to continue training for a month and then attempt the 50km record; if obtained she would have both. Unfortunately she did not accept”.

Continuing the discussion, the Saluzzo coach, believes that based on the times set in training on 30 and 35 km. he thinks that his athlete could theoretically express around 3h55, even if muscularly in the last 10km was good.

If we analyze the split times of Ines Henriques we find confirmation in the race of Porto de Mos: the last 10km were covered by Henriques at 58:07 (and the last 5km in 28:48).

This is the proof of the importance of muscular strength yet to be discovered in women relatively to 50km.

It is also the answer to our last two questions.

Back to times in training (though the one specific to 20 km) Liu Hong had recorded the following distances between 30km and 35km in the years 2015 and 2016:

- Six times the 30km with times between 2h16 and 2h18

- Three times the 35km with times between 2h36 and 2h38

that would suggest (with targeted workouts for 50 km.) to a performance around 3h53 - 3h55.

Sandro Damilano adds: "At this we still have to record that the athlete I coached after winning the 2015 Beijing World Championships on the distance of 20km, wanted to run the marathon in Beijing (Sep. 20,2015) who has finished in 2:51:23, so it is not difficult to imagine that a topo athlete with a specific training can break down the wall of 4h, going even further in a sufficiently short time span. In any case, my congratulations to Ines Henriques”.