Next weekend will be held in Taicang (CHN) the second edition of the World Race Walking Team Championship that was born in 1961 as the Lugano Trophy and that until the 2014 edition of Taicang took the name of the World Cup.
Let's now look at the male teams we believe are favored in the scheduled events which this year will take place with the news of the Pit Lane Rule.
50km men
The last edition was won by Italy, despite the posthumous disqualification of Alex Schwazer for the known facts, which with the score of 14 points prevailed on Ukraine (25) and on Spain (30).
The race this year has in our opinion an absolute favorite: Japan, which had not participated in the Rome edition having chosen for its 50km athletes to finalize the Japanese Championship in Wajima.
The team of the Rising Sun has a quintet of absolute respect: Hirooki Arai (2nd in the world list in 2017 in 3:41:17), Kai Kobayashi (3rd in the world list in 2017 in 3:41:19), Satoshi Maruo (5th in the world list in 2017 in 3:43:03), Hayato Katsuki (27th in the world list in 2017 in 3:48:36) and Yuki Ito (54th in the world rankings in 2017 in 3:56:38).
The fight for the podium will certainly be among the following four selections that represent the most aggressive opponents of Japan:
- Italy which this year established the selection after the 35km held in Grosseto, ITA (Jan. 28, 2018).
They are part of it: Andrea Agrusti (2:37:58), Michele Antonelli (2:38:33), Stefano Chiesa (2:39:08) and Matteo Giupponi (entered with the personal best in 50km of 3:49:52 obtained in Dudince on Mar. 21, 2015)
- Ukraine also with the selection established after the 35km held in Lutsk, UKR (Feb. 11, 2018)
They are part of it: Valeriy Litanyuk (2:34:28), Marian Zakalnytskyi (2:35:26), Ihor Sakharuk (2:41:37), to which are added the most titled Ivan Banzeruk (entered with the personal best of 3:44:49 obtained in Zurich, SUI on Aug. 15, 2014) and Andriy Hrechkovskiy (entered with the personal best of 3:49:06 obtained in Ivano-Frankivsk, UKR on Oct. 19, 2014)
- Spain with the selection established after the 50km held in Burjassot, ESP (Feb. 25, 2018)
They are part of it: Marc Tur (3:56:05), Benjamin Sanchez (3:57:34), Jesus Angel Garcia Bragado (3:58:37), Pablo Oliva (4:05:43).
The fifth man will be chosen between José Ignacio Diaz (entered with the personal best of 3:48.08 obtained in London on Oct. 13, 2017) and Luis Manuel Corchete who is also entereded in the 20km
- finally the host team of China with the selection established after the 35km held in Huangshan, CHN (Mar. 4, 2018)
They are part of it: Han Jijiang (2:33:11), Wang Qin (2:33:18), Rui Wang (2:33:38), Ceng Qingsheng (2: 33.55) and Shan Rongjiang who this year has not competed.
In the table below our probabilities of obtaining team medals
| Nation | Gold % | Silver % | Bronze % | At least one podium % |
| | | | | |
| China | 20 | 25 | 20 | 65 |
| Italy | 5 | 12,5 | 20 | 37,5 |
| Japan | 50 | 25 | 20 | 95 |
| Spain | 5 | 12,5 | 20 | 37,5 |
| Ukraine | 20 | 25 | 20 | 65 |
20km men
The last edition was won by China with a score of 16 points in front of Canada (28) and Ecuador (41).
The 2018 world list for 20km show in the top 20 positions as many as 10 athletes from Japan and 3 athletes from Kenya and then 4 athletes from Russia, but only 2 will be able to compete as "Authorized Neutral Athlete".
If we had to give the statistic, even in this case there should be no doubt about the favored nation, but we must not forget that the conditions in which the times were obtained in Kobe (JPN), Nairobi (KEN) were extremely favorable and better than the others likes in which it is competed.
For gold, we mainly see a fight between:
- hosting Country, China entered with the following athletes: Wang Kaihua (1:19:45 - 14th in the 2018 world list), Gao Yingchao (1:20:31 - 22nd in the 2018 world list), Cai Zelin (1 : 20: 38 - 24th in the world list of 2018), Jin Xiangqian (1:20:56 - 24th in the world list of 2018) and Liu Wengchao (1:21:00 - 30th in the world list of 2018)
- Japan entered with the following athletes: Eiki Takahashi (1:17:26 - 1st in the world list of 2018), Toshikazu Yamanishi (1:17:41 - 2nd in the world list of 2018), Daisuke Matsunaga (1:17:46 - 3rd in the world list of 2018), Koki Ikeda (1:19:13 - 8th in the world list of 2018) and Isamu Fujisawa (1:19:15 - 9th in the world list of 2018)
For the other podium positions the situation is quite fluid and includes the following teams:
- Colombia with: Eider Arevalo (1:22:13 in 2018), Manuel Esteban Soto (1:23:09 in 2018) and José Leonardo Montana (1:24:01 in 2018)
- Ecuador with: Andrés Chocho (1:22:24 in 2018), Mauricio Arteaga (1:23:13 in 2018), Brian Pintado (1:24:16 in 2018) and Jhonatan Amores (1:26:35 in 2018)
- Germany with: Christopher Linke (1:20:40 in 2018 and 23rd in the world list of 2018), Hagen Pohle (1.21.41 in 2018) and Nils Brembach (1:23:18 in 2018)
- Italy with: Massimo Stano (1:21:02 in 2018), Federico Tontodonati (1:21:52 in 2018), Francesco Fortunato (1:23:23 in 2018), Giorgio Rubino (1:20:47 in 2017) and Marco De Luca (1:23:08 in 2017)
- Mexico with: José Leywer Ojeda (1:21:30 in 2018), Isaac Palma (1:21:57 in 2018), Horacio Nava (1:22:13 in 2018), Ricardo Ortiz (1:22:28 in 2018) and José Luis Doctor (1:22:34 in 2018)
- Spain with: Diego Garcia Carrera (1:21:15 - 33rd in the 2018 world list), Alvaro Martin (1:21:48 - 48th in the 2018 world list), Miguel Angel Lopez (1:21:48 - 49th in the 2018 world list), Alberto Amezcua (1:22:52 - 72nd in the 2018 world list) and Martin Bermudez (1:24:07 - 114th in the 2018 world list)
- Ukraine, who after losing Ruslan Dmytrenko has lost one of his best pawns, and who comes with: Ivan Losev (1:20:53 - 25th in the world list of 2018), Viktor Shumik (1:22:57 in 2018), Eduard Zabuzhenko (1:23:14 in 2018) and Serhiy Budza (1:24:03 in 2018).
In the table below our probabilities of obtaining team medals
| Nation | Gold % | Silver % | Bronze % | At least one podium % |
| | | | | |
| China | 40 | 25 | 5 | 70 |
| Colombia | 5 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| Ecuador | - | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| Germany | - | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| Italy | - | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| Mexico | 5 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| Japan | 40 | 25 | 5 | 70 |
| Spain | 10 | 20 | 30 | 60 |
| Ukraine | - | 5 | 10 | 15 |
10km U20 men
The world list of 2018 on the 10km U20 gives no room for any doubt: the victory will be a match between China and Japan and Spain as a third party.
Australia, Turkey, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Italy will also play for the podium.
In the table below our probabilities of obtaining team medals
| Nation | Gold % | Silver % | Bronze % | At least one podium % |
| | | | | |
| China | 45 | 35 | 5 | 85 |
| Colombia | - | - | 10 | 10 |
| Ecuador | - | - | 10 | 10 |
| Italy | - | - | 10 | 10 |
| Mexico | - | - | 10 | 10 |
| Japan | 45 | 35 | 5 | 85 |
| Spain | 10 | 30 | 40 | 80 |
| Turkey | - | - | 10 | 10 |