It took place this morning in Taicang (venue of the next World Cup) the 5th leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge. The times registered by the two races were not glaring, but must take into account, that the races were held under very difficult weather conditions: 26° Celsius and 75% humidity. Difficulties increased by the fact that until two days ago was cold. All conditions which have impacted negatively on the performance of athletes.
20 km. women
The favorites Lu Xiuzhi won the sprint in fronto of the team-mate of training Yang Jiayu (certainly the best technically) and Wang Na.
In fourth place the first foreign: Erica De Sena (BRA).
The race did not live great emotions. The selection took place on a regular basis until the 18 km mark. with the first four athletes in the head.
Lu Xiuzhi (albeit she suffers two red cards) forced the pace and solved the race in her favor thanks to a last round in 8:35.
Split times per lap: 9:24 - 9. 21 - (23:21 at 5 km.) - 9.11 - 9:12 - 9:04 - (46.15 at 10 km) - 9:04 - 8:52 - (1:08:43 at 15 km.) - 9:06 - 9:07 - 8:35
Arrival order included athletes not entered to IAAF Challenge:
1) Lu Xiuzhi 1:31:01
2) Yang Jiayu 1:31:04
3) Wang Na 1:31:09
4) Erica De Sena 1:31:31
5) Wang Yingliu 1:31:48
6) Nie Jingjing 1:32:50
Lu Xiuzhi during the race (photo by Ji Chunpeng - CHN)
20 km. men
Even in men's competition the selection is made in a regular manner.
The big initial group lost lap by lap the elements until it reaches around 15 km. mark when in the head they remained only in four.
At the 16km mark the young and interesting (although the technique needs some adjustment) Wang Rui (CHN) forced the pace and with two laps under 8minutes pulled off the escape companions.
In second place arrived Caio Bonfim (BRA) in front of the young (1997) Jing Xianggiun (CHN).
Split times per lap: 8.28 - 8. 20 - (20:58at 5 km.) - 8.20 - 8.20 - 8.10 - (41.39 at 10 km.) - 8.08 - 8.08 - (1:02:01 at 15 km.) - 8.13 - 7:53 - 7:52
Caio Bonfim (BRA), however, is the winner of the 5th leg of the IAAF Challenge in China because of two Chinese athletes participated only at the national competition.
Arrival order includel athletes not entered to IAAF Challenge
1) Wang Rui 1:21:58
2) Caio Bonfim 1:22:16
3) Jing Xianggiun 1:22:35
4) Biang Tongda 1:22:35
5) Julio Cesar Salazar (MEZ) 1:22:58
6) Shande Lebogang 1:23:45
7) Andres Chocho 1:23:47
8) Ever Palma 1:23:48
Other races
As usual in Taicang it takes place at the stage of the Challenge also a Mass Race of Fitwalking with a high numerical presence.
This morning there were more than 5.000 people to walk alongside the athletes in a special lane reserved for them: a beautiful sight.
Very interesting as the average value the 10km U20.
Excellent participation but also the technical value of the competition with a score of athletes, if we counted it well, under the 44:00 time, despite the disqualification of Zhang Yao (CHN) that two weeks ago he won in Rio Maior with a very good result of 41:49.
Caio Bonfim on the podium celebrates the victory (photo by Ji Chunpeng - CHN)
(Co-operation by Yang Zhongmin e Shen Xinsheng - CHN)
(from IAAF web-site by Vincent Wu - CHN)
World silver medallist Lu Xiuzhi lived up to expectations as she led a Chinese podium sweep in the women’s 20km race at the 2017 IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting in Taicang on Saturday (15).
Brazil’s 20km record-holder Caio Bonfim won the men’s race which saw the withdrawal of several local elite race walkers.
The races were staged under sunny and hot conditions with the temperature soaring over 20C after the start of the women’s race at 8:00am. The 23-year-old Lu, who was the fastest woman on paper with a personal best of 1:25:12, stayed in the leading pack together with her two teammates Wang Na and Yang Jiayu as well as Brazilian record-holder Erica de Sena for most of the race before charging off for the win some 500 metres before the finish.
Thanks to her powerful home stretch display, the vastly experienced Lu registered a winning time of 1:31:01, edging out Yang by just three seconds. Wang finished third in 1:31:09 while De Sena took fourth in 1:31:31.
Despite competing in a pair of new shoes that rubbed the skin off her heels, Lu was satisfied with her victory.
“I started to feel the pain after two kilometre, and had to walk with it in the following 18,” said the world silver medallist. “It really hurt a lot but in the last kilometres, I managed to ignore the pain and only focus on the race.”
“To be honest, I am not in my best form and I had not specially prepared for this race either. So I just followed my own rhythm and tried to walk to my normal level,” Lu added.
It is the second victory for Lu in 2017, following her world-leading 1:26:28 performance set when winning the Chinese National Grand Prix in Huangshang last month. Now, she has already set her eyes on the IAAF World Championship London 2017 as well as the Chinese National Games, a quadrennial multi-sport competition with great importance for most Chinese athletes.
“There are only three weeks between the two competitions. I will have to deal with the jet lag after returning from London and my physical conditions may also be a problem, ” said Lu, who is the defending National Games 20km champion.
Unlike the women’s event that saw pre-race favorite take the win as expected, the men’s 20km race was wide-open following a series of withdrawals by Chinese elite walkers.
Bomfim holds off Salazar
Olympic champion Wang Zhen and silver medalist Cai Zelin both decided to skip the race. Meanwhile, both the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Chen Ding and the in-form world leader Wang Kaihua only entered the Chinese National Grand Prix that was jointly held with the Challenge event in Taicang.
As a result, the Chinese team had to field the 38-year-old veteran Han Yucheng and relatively inexperienced Luo Yadong and Li Peng to compete in the Challenge race.
The 26-year-old Bonfim, who set his PB of 1:19:42 en route to his fourth-place finish at the Rio Olympics last year, held off Mexico’s Julio Cesar Salazar to win in 1:22:16. Salazar finished 42 seconds adrift.
South Africa’s Lebogang Shange finished third in 1:23:45. It was the second time Shange earned a podium finish at a challenge meet this season, following his second-place finish at the Oceania 20km Race Walk Championships in Adelaide in 1:21:00.
The overall winner of the men’s race was China’s Wang Rui, who clocked 1:21:58 but he was only entered in the National Grand Prix team event.
Neither Chen nor Kaihua managed to find their best form, as Kaihua finished fifth in 1:25:04 in the Grand Prix individual race and Chen clocked a sluggish 1:27:16 to finish 17th.
Vincent Wu for the IAAF
The start of 20km men
Taicang - Mass Event (photo by Frederic Bianchi - SUI)