It is not possible to make a comparison with the 20 km of women of the European Race Walking Cup in Murcia 2015 and that will be held in Podebrady this month.
Let's analyze why !
The past edition
Among the first 10 scored athletes of that season (with performances ranging from 1:26:15 to 1:29:32) only four are still walking and among these two (Eleonora Giorgi and Anezka Drahotova) suffered physical problems at the end 2016 season that affected the beginning of 2017.
The three Russians (first, third, fifth and sixth) do not participate for the well-known reasons, Olyanovska (UKR) is banned for positivity, Rigaudo (ITA) has hung the shoes to the nail and therefore remain only of the old "best ten" Ana Cabecinha (POR) who in Murcia had scored ninth in 1:28:28 and Laura Garcia-Caro (ESP) who had arrived tenth in 1:29:32.
The top ten performances in Women's European Cup
The 2015 women's edition had seen a race that had rewritten the history of the Women's Wuropean race Walking Cup with the duel up to the last meters between Elmira Alembekova (RUS) who won in 1:26:15 and Eleonora Anna Giorgi (ITA) second in 1:26:17.
Both ousted from the top list the performance of Yelena Nikolayeva (RUS) who resisted with her 1:26:22 since May 18, 2003 and for more than 10 years seemed unbeatable.
But Murcia also saw the excellent performance of Svetlana Vasilieva (RUS) who with her 1:26:31 placed on the list of the Women's European Cup in front of Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS) in 1:26:48 (obtained two times in Eisenhuttenstadt 2000 and in Dudince 2001) and Natalya Fedoskina (RUS) in 1:26:50 (obtained in Dudince 2001).
Always in Murcia got a good performance with fourth place Anezka Drahotova (CZE) in 1:26:53 in front of Marina Pandakova (RUS) in 1:26:58 and Vera Sokolova (RUS) in 1:27:08.
Complete the "top ten" of the 20km women in Europan Cup, Elisabetta Perrone (ITA) with third place in Dudince 2001 in 1:27:09.
The 2017 edition
This year, the stop of Russia's athletes and the still dubious conditions of Eleonora Giorgi and Anezka Drahotova, whom we hope to express their best in Podebrady's race, leave a doubt on how the women's race will be held. Moreover, in anticipation of the next London World Championships, will be measured by comparing Podebrady's European Cupo with the XVIII Copa Panamericana de Marcha that will take place in Lima next Saturday.
From this distance comparison between Europe and the Americas we will certainly have some better idea of what may be the contest in London with the new China Team (halved for the absences of Qieyang Shenjie and Liu Hong) and Australia's emerging athletes.
The European season on 20km (if Russian athletes are excluded) has not been as good as the previous ones.
In 2016 at this time of year, with the top event of Rome 2016, at European level we had the following performances (with the exception of Russian athletes)
| Pos. | Result | Athlete | YoB | Nation | Venue | Date |
| | | | | | | |
| 1st | 1:28:03 | RIGUAUDO Elisa | 80 | ITA | Roma, ITA | 07.05 |
| 10th | 1:30:27 | DYGACZ Agnieszka | 85 | POL | Naumburg, GER | 22.05 |
| 20th | 1:31:20 | AIDIETYTE Neringa | 83 | LTU | Dudince, SVK | 19.03 |
This year, with only the races of the IAAF Challenge, the European Permit Meeting and the local National Championships, the situation is as follows
| Pos. | Result | Athlete | YoB | Nation | Venue | Date |
| | | | | | | |
| 1st | 1:30:55 | TAKACS Julia | 85 | ESP | Naumbung, GER | 23.04 |
| 10th | 1:31:59 | CANO Amanda | 94 | ESP | Merida, ESP | 02.04 |
| 20th | 1:34:04 | LARIOS LOPEZ Maria | 83 | ESP | Merida, ESP | 02.04 |
Apart from the case of finding three Spanish athletes at the 1st, 10th and 20th place, the fact remains that the comparison of 2016 times with those of 2017 clearly shows that with a performance little less than 1:29:30 one women could safely win the individual female race in Podebrady (just slightly less than the time obtained in Murcia by Laura Garcia-Caro (ESP) who had arrived tenth in 1:29:32.
It is therefore clear that with the following European actual list 2017
| Time | Pos | Athlete | YoB | Nation | Venue | Date |
| | | | | | | |
| 01:30:55 | 1. | Julia TAKACS | 85 | ESP | Naumburg (GER) | 23.04 |
| 01:30:55 | 2. | Brigita VIRBALYTĖ-DIMSIENĖ | 85 | LTU | Adelaide (AUS) | 19.02 |
| 01:30:57 | 3. | Lidia SANCHEZ-PUEBLA | 96 | ESP | Mérida (ESP) | 02.04 |
| 01:31:33 | 4. | Laura GARCÍA-CARO | 95 | ESP | Mérida (ESP) | 02.04 |
| 01:31:39 | 5. | Viktoria MADARASZ | 85 | HUN | Békéscsaba (HUN) | 30.04 |
| 01:33:23 | 6. | Živilė VAICIUKEVIČIŪTĖ | 96 | LTU | Podebrady (CZE) | 08.04 |
| 01:31:44 | 7. | Nadiya BOROVSKA | 81 | UKR | Ivano-Frankivsk (UKR) | 12.03 |
| 01:31:46 | 8. | Maria PEREZ | 96 | ESP | Mérida (ESP) | 02.04 |
| 01:31:47 | 9. | Ana CABECINHA | 84 | POR | Ciudad Juárez (MEX) | 12.03 |
| 01:31:50 | 10. | Amanda CANO | 94 | ESP | Mérida (ESP) | 02.04 |
| 01:32:00 | 11. | Emilie MENUET | 91 | FRA | La Roche-sur-Yon (FRA) | 12.03 |
| 01:32:15 | 12. | Ines HENRIQUES | 80 | POR | Rio Maior (POR) | 01.04 |
| 01:33:23 | 13. | Monika VAICIUKEVIČIŪTĖ | 96 | LTU | Podebrady (CZE) | 08.04 |
| 01:32:47 | 14. | Antigoni DRISBIOTI | 84 | GRE | Rio Maior (POR) | 01.04 |
| 01:33:03 | 15. | Ainhoa PINEDO | 83 | ESP | Mérida (ESP) | 02.04 |
| 01:33:18 | 16. | Anežka DRAHOTOVÁ | 95 | CZE | Podebrady (CZE) | 08.04 |
| 01:33:26 | 17. | Mária CZÁKOVÁ | 88 | SVK | Lugano (SUI) | 19.03 |
| 01:33:45 | 18. | Valentina TRAPLETTI | 85 | ITA | Cassino (ITA) | 26.03 |
| 01:33:49 | 19. | Inna KASHINA | 91 | UKR | Ivano-Frankivsk (UKR) | 12.03 |
| 01:34:04 | 20. | Maria LARIOS LOPEZ | 92 | ESP | Mérida (ESP) | 02.04 |
the potential athletes looking for the podium will be in many.
Spain aside, which will have to choose four of the current seven athletes in the list of the top 20 in Europe, the number of candidates for victory and medals should narrow, in our opinion, to five or six athletes of which in the next few days we will analyze comparisons direct during past years.