During this intense month of January it was competed almost everywhere starting from New Year's Day and in many distances.
We asked ourselves the following question: which is the best athlete of the month based on the performance obtained?
We neglected the indoor races in our analysis, focusing in particular on the outdoor ones that still had quite interesting results.
Women category
There are three performances that, in our opinion, are worthy of being reported and we summarize in the following table
| Date | Event | Venue | Distance | Athlete | Result |
| | | | | | |
| 07.1.2018 | Portuguese National Championship | Porto de Mos | 35km | HENRIQUES Ines | 2:45:51 |
| 20.1.2018 | USA National Chamionship | Santee | 50km | SANCHEZ-TERAN Mariela | 4:46:12 |
| 21.1.2018 | Peruvian National Championship | Lima | 20km | GARCIA LEON Kimberly | 1:38:03 |
To determine the best athlete of the month of January 2018 we then searched for the relative score in the international tables of the IAAF and we have summarized it in the following table.
Unfortunately, the current international tables for the women category do not provide a score for the 35km. To give a more homogeneous score to the performance of Ines Henriques we took into consideration her split time at 30km in the race of Porto de Mos (2:22:47).
We hope not to be far from reality. Moreover Ines Hernriques has covered the last 5km in Porto de Mos in line (23:04) with the split times of the other 5km fractions, so, given the difference in the score between her and the second (Mariela Sanchez-Teran) it is quite easily conceivable that her result is the best performarce of the month at the female level.
| Pos. | Athlete | Result | Score points |
| | | | |
| 1. | HENRIQUES Ines | 2:22:47 | 1.162 |
| 2. | SANCHEZ-TERAN Mariela | 4:46:12 | 1.017 |
| 3. | GARCIA LEON Kimberly | 1:38:03 | 1.001 |
Men category
Also in this case we have considered three performances
| Date | Event | Venue | Distance | Athlete | Result |
| | | | | | |
| 1.1.2018 | The 66th New Year Race Walking | Tokyo | 20km | MATSUNAGA Daisuke | 1:20:12 |
| 14.1.2018 | Australian 10.000m track walk championships | Canberra | 10.000m | KARLSTROM Perseus | 39:22.41 |
| 28.1.2018 | Italian Clubs Championships 1st leg | Grosseto | 35km | RUBINO Giorgio | 2:30:51 |
Using the same system we have determined the best performance of the month.
The surprise is given by the fact that between the first and second position there is a minimum difference of only two points.
| Pos. | Athlete | Result | Score points |
| | | | |
| 1. | MATSUNAGA Daisuke | 1:20:12 | 1.187 |
| 2. | RUBINO Giorgio | 2:30:51 | 1.185 |
| 3. | KARLSTROM Perseus | 39:22.41 | 1.057 |
Translated into temporal terms for Daisuke Matsunaga a 6" slower performance would have been enough in the race of January 1, 2018 to see Giorgio Rubino victorious with points 1.188.
Giorgio Rubino instead would have needed in the 35km of Grosseto of a time less than 13" to get the same result.
A beautiful head to head!