A month ago we launched a survey among our readers with the aim of getting to know their idea on the best walkers of the year 2018 proposed by Marcia dal Mondo.
We now want to remember that in the men we had proposed the following ten athletes
- Wang Kaihua (CHN)
- Eider Arevalo (COL)
- Diego Garcia (ESP)
- Alvaro Martin (ESP)
- Hiroki Arai (JPN)
- Koki Ikeda (JPN)
- Daisuke Matsunaga (JPN)
- Tomohiro Noda (JPN)
- Matej Toth (SVK)
- Maryan Zakalnytskyy (UKR)
the motivations of their nominations on our part can be consulted in our news published on October 31, 2018 ( click here )
Although the public survey launched on the Social Network has been viewed by over 170 people, the same has only been answered by 48 readers who have expressed themselves as follows:
- Koki Ikeda (JPN): votes 15
- Alvaro Martin (ESP): votes 14
- Diego Garcia (ESP): votes 7
- Hiroki Arai (JPN): votes 5
- Eider Arevalo (COL): votes 4
- Wang Kaihua (CHN): votes 1
- Daisuke Matsunaga (JPN): votes 1
- Matej Toth (SVK): votes 1
- Tomohiro Noda (JPN): no votes
- Maryan Zakalnytskyy (UKR): no votes
Marcia dal Mondo then contacted about thirty walking experts from the following IAAF geographical Areas, receiving a positive response to the survey by:
- Europe: 10 experts
- Asia: 3 experts
- Oceania: 2 experts
- NACAC: 1 expert
- CONSUDATE: 1 expert
and representing the following categories:
- Coaches: 7 experts
- Athletes and former athletes: 3 experts
- Judges: 3 experts
- Journalists and media: 5 experts
The results of the expert survey were as follows:
Per Area
| Athlete | Europe | Asia | Oceania | NACAC | CONSUDATLE | Experts |
| | | | | | | |
| Ikeda Koki (JPN) | 21 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 34 |
| Arevalo Eider (COL) | 15 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 24 |
| Arai Iroki (JPN) | 14 | 4 | 2 | - | 2 | 22 |
| Wang Kaihua (CHN) | 5 | 4 | - | - | - | 9 |
| Martin Alvaro (ESP) | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | 6 |
| Zakalnytskyy Marian (UKR) | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 5 |
| Garcia Diego (ESP) | 3 | - | - | - | - | 3 |
| Noda Tomohiro (JPN) | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | 3 |
| Toth Matej (SVK) | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Matsunaga Daisuke (JPN) | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Per expert category
| Athlete | Coach | Athletes & ex athletes | Press & Media | Judges | Experts |
| | | | | | |
| Ikeda Koki (JPN) | 9 | 7 | 11 | 7 | 34 |
| Arevalo Eider (COL) | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 24 |
| Arai Iroki (JPN) | 9 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 22 |
| Wang Kaihua (CHN) | 6 | - | 3 | - | 9 |
| Martin Alvaro (ESP) | 4 | 2 | - | - | 6 |
| Zakalnytskyy Marian (UKR) | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | 5 |
| Garcia Diego (ESP) | - | 1 | - | 2 | 3 |
| Noda Tomohiro (JPN) | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| Toth Matej (SVK) | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Matsunaga Daisuke (JPN) | - | - | - | - | - |
The combined final result of the athlete's survey of the year of Marcia dal Mondo is therefore the following:
| Athlete | Public | Experts | Total |
| | | | |
| Ikeda Koki (JPN) | 15 | 34 | 49 |
| Arevalo Eider (COL) | 4 | 24 | 28 |
| Arai Iroki (JPN) | 5 | 22 | 27 |
| Martin Alvaro (ESP) | 14 | 6 | 20 |
| Wang Kaihua (CHN) | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| Garcia Diego (ESP) | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Zakalnytskyy Marian (UKR) | - | 5 | 5 |
| Noda Tomohiro (JPN) | - | 3 | 3 |
| Toth Matej (SVK) | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Matsunaga Daisuke (JPN) | 1 | - | 1 |
Koki Ikeda (JPN) winner also in public survey