Usually the month of February is a month in which the indoor activity is the boos of the show, and even so it was in 2018.
This year, however, the road activity has had its peaks of interest during the month of February.
After the taste of the Feb. 4, 2018 in Genoa (ITA) in which we have seen the athletes of China on the 10km, we have witnessed a series of wee-end of great interest.
The week after Genoa was the turn of Adelaide (AUS) with the Championships of Australia and Oceania (and walid as a leg of the IAAF Challenge). The result in the 20km men was not monstrous, but gives us an unusual order of arrival.
It is not often that we see the first and second arrivals, separated by a little more than a blink of an eye: one second, in fact, was the difference between Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) and Marius Ziukas (LTU).
On the following weekend (Feb. 17 and 18, 2018) we have instead witnessed a series of high level competitions scattered among Asia, Africa and Europe:
- the Indian Championships in New Delhi with an enviably number of participants, particularly in the 50km
- the Trials of Kenya in Nairobi with few participants, but results of absolute level, and with an order of arrival almost identical to that of Adelaide (AUS) as regards the gap between the first two. Two were the seconds that separated Samuel Ireri Gathimba (1:19:04) and Simon Wachira (1:10:06) on the finish line
- the usual race is Kobe with its extraordinary level of participation and with its equally extraordinary results at the male level
- to counterbalance Kobe in Europe we find Sochi (RUS) where we attended the show of Russian women with times of absolute interest and, not to miss anything, to another arrival at the photo finish; this time, as in Adelaide (AUS) it was again only one second to separate the winner Sergey Shirobokov (RUS) from the loser Vasily Mizinov (RUS).
Finally (Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, 2018) Monterrey. We witnessed a good race with an overwhelming Lebogang Shange (RSA) victory, even though the result was not the best. At the female level, however, the performance of Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez is very good.
In choosing the best athlete of the month, Marcia dal Mondo proceeded as follows:
Men category
In this case we have considered the following performances
| Date | Event | Venue | Distance | Athlete | Result |
| | | | | | |
| 18.2.2018 | JAAF 20km Championships | Kobe | 20km | TAKAHASHI Eiki | 1:17:26 |
| 18.2.2018 | JAAF 20km Championships | Kobe | 20km | YAMANISHI Toshikazu | 1:17:41 |
| 18.2.2018 | JAAF 20km Championships | Kobe | 20km | MATSUNAGA Daisuke | 1:17:46 |
| 19.2.2018 | Russian Winter Championships | Sochi | 35km | BAKULIN Sergey | 2:24:53 |
| 25.2.2018 | 2nd memorial Hausleber - IAAF Challenge | Monterrey | 50km | CHOCHO Andres | 3:50:27 |
Using the same system last month we determined the best performance in February.
| Pos. | Athlete | Result | Score points |
| | | | |
| 1. | TAKAHASHI Eiki | 1:17:26 | 1.247 |
| 2. | BAKULIN Sergey | 2:24:53 | 1.245 |
| 3. | YAMANISHI Toshikazu | 1:17:41 | 1.242 |
| 4. | MATSUNAGA Daisuke | 1:17:46 | 1.240 |
| 5. | CHOCHO Andres | 3:50:27 | 1.160 |
The gap between first and second performances, as our readers will be able to see, is only two points that, translated in terms of time for Eiki Takahasi, would have sufficed to be 7" slower in Kobe race for see Sergey Bakulin victorious in Sochi with points 1,245.
Sergey Bakulin instead would have needed in the 35km of Sochi of a time less than 13" to get the same result.
Women category
In this case we have considered the following performances
| Date | Event | Venue | Distance | Athlete | Result |
| | | | | | |
| 19.2.2018 | Russian Winter Championships | Sochi | 20km | LASHMANOVA Yelena | 1:26:23 |
| 19.2.2018 | Russian Winter Championships | Sochi | 20km | PONOMARYIOVA Mariya | 1:27:11 |
| 18.2.2018 | Russian Winter Championships | Sochi | 20km | BRODATSKAYA Sofiya | 1:27:57 |
| 24.2.2018 | 2nd memorial Hausleber - IAAF Challenge | Monterrey | 20km | GONZALEZ Maria Guadalupe | 1:27:46 |
In terms of scoring the results are as follows:
| Pos. | Athlete | Result | Score points |
| | | | |
| 1. | LASHMANOVA Yelena | 1:26:23 | 1.201 |
| 2. | PONOMARYIOVA Mariya | 1:27:11 | 1.187 |
| 3. | GONZALEZ Maria Guadalupe | 1:27:46 | 1.177 |
| 4. | BRODATSKAYA Sofiya | 1:27:57 | 1.173 |
The numbers would say that the best athlete of the month should be Yelena Lashmanova, but there are at least two reasons why, in our humble opinion, the choice should be different.
The first reason is technical and is given by the altitude: Sochi is 65m above sea level, while it is at 540m above sea level. In our opinion, the difference in altitude would already justify the gap of 69" against Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez.
The second is referred to the rules: we do not find that in Sochi the race was held with the presence of an international walking jury. If a world record had been paradoxically obtained, this could not have been ratified. This fact, in our opinion, leads us to exclude the three athletes of Russia and to indicate Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez as an athlete of the month of February 2018.