Three years of high-level race walk, with two World Championships and an edition of Olympic Games let us to think about the hypothetical "three-year champion", but also and above all about the generational replacement in the specialty.
We have analyzed the results of the first 16 athletes classified in Beijing World Championships 2015, Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics and London 2017 World Championships and scored a hypothetical "three-year champion" ranking based on placements and performances.
We have assumed the presence of an athlete in the semifinalists in at least two of the three mentioned competitions in 20km men and women and in at least one for 50km.
The results were then analyzed both at the placement level (the most important in our opinion) and at the sum of the performances over the three year period.
20km men
The sabbatical year decided by China's top athletes, Wang Zhen (CHN) and Cai Zelin (CHN) costs them the exclusion from this special ranking.
Similarly, is excluded, but this time for a precise technical choice as a result of the race being held all in the same day, Evan Dunfee (CAN), who will appear in the 50km ranking.
It is not unexpected the first place of Caio Bonfim (BRA), which for years has expressed himself in all international competitions at the top of the world's specialties.
Among other things, at the performance level, the strong Brazilian athlete is the only one who, summing up the results of the three races, can get a global time less than 4:00:00.
Here are the results of the first eight athletes.
| Athlete | Year 2017 | Year 2016 | Year 2015 | Score | Time |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Caio Bonfim, BRA | 3 | 01:19:04 | 4 | 01:19:42 | 6 | 01:20:44 | 13 | 3:59:30 |
| Dane Bird-Smith, AUS | 6 | 01:19:28 | 3 | 01:19:37 | 8 | 01:21:37 | 17 | 4:00:42 |
| Miguel Angel Lopez, ESP | 10 | 01:19:57 | 11 | 01:20:58 | 1 | 01:19:14 | 22 | 4:00:09 |
| Eider Arevalo, COL | 1 | 01:18:53 | 15 | 01:21:40 | 7 | 01:21:13 | 23 | 4:01:46 |
| Isamu Fujisawa, JPN | 11 | 01:20:04 | 21 | 01:22:03 | 13 | 01:21:51 | 45 | 4:03:58 |
| Alvaro Martin, ESP | 8 | 01:19:41 | 22 | 01:22:11 | 16 | 01:22:04 | 46 | 4:03:56 |
| Christopher Linke, GER | 5 | 01:19:21 | 5 | 01:20:00 | 38 | 01:26:10 | 48 | 4:05:31 |
| Lebogang Shange, RSA | 4 | 01:19:18 | 44 | 01:25:07 | 11 | 01:21:13 | 59 | 4:05:38 |
The only point of discussion might be the positioning of Dane Bird-Smith (AUS) and Miguel Angel Lopez (ESP), which would have little to do with Spanish timing over the Australian.
However, we still prefer Dane Bird-Smith to be nothing but the fact that he's always finished in the top eight.
50km men
The absence of this year's competitions by Matej Toth (SVK) and Jared Tallent (AUS) (which are the best-known names) costs them exclusion from this special ranking.
Similarly, they are excluded:
- Yu Wei (CHN): Due to this year's DNF
- Chris Erickson (AUS): for his absence this year
Not surprisingly, Hirooki Arai (JPN), who has been for years in all international competitions at the top of the world's, is in front of the stainless Robert Heffernan (IRL) who announced his retirement in London.
A separate talk should be made for Yohann Diniz (FRA) who holds the first two "all-time" road distance performance in addition to the world record on track distance: in this case, the absence in 2015 is due to an injury, and exclude him from this special ranking.
Here are the results of the first eight athletes.
| Athlete | Year 2017 | Year 2016 | Year 2015 | Score | Time |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Hirooki Arai, JPN | 2 | 03:41:17 | 3 | 03:41:24 | 4 | 03:43:44 | 9 | 11:06:25 |
| Robert Heffernan, IRL | 8 | 03:44:41 | 6 | 03:43:55 | 5 | 03:44:17 | 19 | 11:12:53 |
| Evan Dunfee, CAN | 15 | 03:47:36 | 4 | 03:41:38 | 12 | 03:49:56 | 31 | 11:19:10 |
| Quentin Rew, NZL | 12 | 03:46:29 | 12 | 03:49:32 | 10 | 03:48:48 | 34 | 11:24:49 |
| Marco De Luca, ITA | 9 | 03:45:02 | 21 | 03:54:40 | 16 | 03:53:02 | 46 | 11:32:44 |
| Adrian Blocki, POL | 24 | 03:55:49 | 15 | 03:51:31 | 11 | 03:49:11 | 50 | 11:36:31 |
| Rafal Augustyn, POL | 7 | 03:44:18 | 22 | 03:55:01 | 28 | 03:57:30 | 57 | 11:36:49 |
| Ivan Banzeruk, UKR | 19 | 03:49:49 | 39 | 04:11:51 | 15 | 03:52:15 | 73 | 11:53:55 |
20km women
The absence of this year's competitions by Liu Hong (CHN) and Qienyang Shenjie (CHN) - for pregnancy - and in 2015 by Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez (MEX) as she is not yet launched on the international walk, costs them the exclusion from this special ranking.
The disqualification in the last few meters of London 2km race received by Lyu Xiuzhi (CHN) leaves the other Chinese athlete of high rank to be in full possession of Liu Hong's heir.
The consistency and growth of results rewards Antonella Palmisano (ITA) who with the bronze and personal bests recently obtained in London is the winner, both in terms of ranking and performance.
Here are the results of the first eight athletes.
| Athlete | Year 2017 | Year 2016 | Year 2015 | Score | Time |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Antonella Palmisano, ITA | 3 | 01:26:36 | 4 | 01:29:03 | 5 | 01:29:34 | 12 | 4:25:13 |
| Ana Cabecinha, POR | 6 | 01:28:57 | 6 | 01:29:23 | 4 | 01:29:29 | 16 | 4:27:49 |
| Erica De Sena, BRA | 4 | 01:26:59 | 7 | 01:29:29 | 6 | 01:30:06 | 17 | 4:26:34 |
| Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene, LTU | 16 | 01:30:45 | 29 | 01:35:11 | 7 | 01:30:20 | 52 | 4:36:16 |
| Victoria Madarasz, HUN | 12 | 01:30:05 | 25 | 01:33:59 | 15 | 01:32:01 | 52 | 4:36:05 |
| Paola Perez, ECU | 13 | 01:30:09 | 24 | 01:33:44 | 16 | 01:32:12 | 53 | 4:36:05 |
| Mirna Ortiz, GUA | 11 | 01:30:01 | 30 | 01:35:11 | 12 | 01:31:32 | 53 | 4:36:44 |
| Sandra Arenas, COL | 5 | 01:28:10 | 32 | 01:35:40 | 19 | 01:33:24 | 56 | 4:37:14 |
Two could be the points of discussion.
The first could be the positioning of Ana Cabecinha (POR) and Erica De Sena (BRA), which would favor 1:15 in terms of timing the Brazilian than the Portuguese. As we did for the male category - Dane Bird-Smith (AUS) and Miguel Angel Lopez (ESP) - our address is to focus on performance.
The other is Sandra Arenas (COL) who has not scored at least two of the results within the first sixteen athletes. Unfortunately, however, no other athlete satisfies this condition and this is the reason why the Colombian is the eighth place of this special ranking.