Sunday 11.2.2018 along the War memorial Drive of Adelaide, South Australia, will take place the 20km Australian Championships, also matched to the 20km Championships of Oceania.
The weather forecast indicates a variable temperature between 19° early morning and 34° maximum
The races and the scheduled timetable are as follows:
7:00 am: Australian 20km Race Walking Championships
8:00 am: Oceania Under 20 10km Race Walking Championship
8:00 am: Invitational Under 18 5km Race Walking Championships
20km men
At the 20km men's race there are currently 25 athletes registered:
- 5 from Poland
- 2 from Chile
- 2 from Sweden
- 2 from Lithuania
- 1 from New Zealand
- 1 from Singapore
- 1 from Canada
- 11 from the host country, Australia
Olympic bronze medallist Dane Bird-Smith (AUS) will be chasing a fourth Oceanian title and a hat-trick in Adelaide, having won outright in 2014 (in Hobart, after first-across-the-line Jared Tallent suffered a rare disqualification), 2016 and again last year.
Interesting opponents will be: Quentin Rew (NZL), who finished third last year, Artur Brzozowski (POL), who finished fourth last year, together with team-mate Jakub Jelonek (POL) (10th in 2017) and to Damien Blocki (POL).
Evan Dunfee (CAN), the fourth-place finisher over 50km at the 2016 Olympics, warmed up for Adelaide by winning over 5000m in Canberra last weekend in 19:36.61. Two weeks prior to that, Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) was a decisive winner over 10,000m in 39:22.41. Both will be racing in Adelaide and appear to be the best bet to challenge Bird-Smith.
Also worth mentioning are Larius Ziukas (LTU), and Yerko Araya (CHI).
Hometown hero Jared Tallent (AUS) is among the entered athletes but is not racing next Sunday, though he is still hoping to be right by the time the World Race Walking Team Championships come around.
20km women
At the 20km men's race there are currently 15 athletes registered:
- 1 from New Zealand
- 1 from Lithuania
- the remaining 13 are all from the host country, Australia
The favorite for the win should be Regan Lamble (AUS) who last year had a mildly disappointing World Championships in London few in 2016 after finishing ninth place at the Olympic a year earlier.
She will be favoured to win with other expected to show well including: Beki Smith (AUS), Claire Tallent (AUS), Alana Barber (NZL) and Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene (LTU).
The entry list for the U20 categories is also fair (9 men and 8 women) while for the U18 only 2 men and 1 woman should be at the start.
Finally, it is recalled that the race will be valid as the first test of the year of the IAAF Challenge.