The king is dead, long life the king.
Never before has this traditional expression come down to our days from medieval France from the far 1422 when the French king Charles VI died, could be applied to our "little ancient world" of the 50km walk.
The 50km dies, but in this phase of its long history, in the last month between Dudince (SVK) and Wajima (JPN) the queen race of walk seems to have a long life: they were in 42 at the start in Dudince, they should be in 39 at the start in Wajima.
We wonder if with these high numbers, maybe even in other Countries (or unions of Championships) the 50km defense would not have been less difficult.
We must give credit to our Slovak friends (a municipality of about 1.500 inhabitants) for having offered a high quality competition for years. But we must give even more attention to our Japanese friends to have managed to keep the 50km National Championship (this year at its 103rd edition) since immemorial time in Wajima, which has fewer than 28,000 inhabitants.
Long live therefore to our queens: Dudince and Wajima.
The search for entry standard to Doha 2019 and the limited offer of 50km in the current period of the season meant that the European walkers focused on Dudince, while those of Oceania and North America asked to compete in Wajima.
Only China (Huangshan), Spain (El Vendrell), India (Chennai), Brazil (Bragança Paulista), Portugal (Porto de Mos), Italy (Gioiosa Marea), USA (Santee), Hong Kong and Greece (Marathonas) have seen in 2019 athletes at the start of 50km, but only Huangshan, El Vendrell and Chennai could smile for the number of athletes.
The novelty of 2019: the new 2km go & back circuit.
Japan in the 50km has a number of high level athletes that not many Countries can afford.
Let's start with the London 2017 silver medalist, Hirooki Arai, who boasts a personal best of 3:40:20 obtained in Wajima during the edition held on Apr. 19, 2015.
The other leading athlete should be the reigning national champion, Tomohiro Noda, who last year in Wajima had won the title in 3:35:56, but which at the end of the season (Oct. 28, 2019) in Takahata (JPN) had been able to break the national record bringing it for the first time under 3:40:00 with an excellent 3:39:47
But that's not enough, because the fight for the podium will also involve the following athletes with accreditation performances lower than 3:48:00:
- Hayato Katsuki who boasts a personal best of 3:44:31 obtained in Taicang 2018 where he won the silver medal, while he raced for a quiet 4:03:30 to win in Jakarta (INA) in the heat and infernal humidity at the 2018 Asian Games
- Satoshi Maruo who boasts a personal best of 3:43:03 obtained with fifth place in London 2017. In 2018, however, he finished third in Taicang (3:44:52) and fourth at the Asian Games in Jakarta (4:14:13)
- Kay Kobayashi who boasts a personal best of 3:41:19 obtained with third place in London 2017. In 2018, however, he finished second in Takahata (3:46:26) while he DNF in Taicang
- Masatora Kawano who boasts a personal best of 3:47:30 obtained with third place in Takahata in 2018.
It is still worthwhile to provide our readers with the following information. In the 2019 season all these 50km participants, with the exception of Hayato Katsuki, have already competed between Kobe (JPN) and Nomi (JPN) in the 20km with the following results of high level:
- Masatora Kawano - Names: 1:17:24
- Tomohiro Noda - Kobe: 1.19: 00
- Hirooki Arai - Kobe: 1:19:00
- Kay Kobayashi - Kobe: 1:21:40
- Satoshi Maruo - Kobe: 1:22:27
We stop here, with only one other hint: the test also includes Daisuke Matsunaga, Yusuke Suzuki (world record holder 20km) and Isamu Fujisawa.
There are seven foreigners entered.
Among them stand out the names of Jared Tallent (AUS) on which it would be superfluous to spend words having seen his palmares. We only need to remember his personal best (3:36:53) which allowed him to posthumously win at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Also in this case with personal best less than 3:47:00 we remember:
- Evan Dunfee (CAN) who has a personal best of 3:41:38 obtained in Rio de Janeiro 2016 where he fought until the last of the race for the bronze against Hirooki Arai (JPN)
- Quentin Rew (NZL) which has a personal bst of 3:46:29 obtained in London in 2017
50km women
There are only seven women entered.
The best accreditation mark is that of Serena Sonoda who won the 2018 edition of Wajima with a time of 4:31:52.
The not yet 23-years-old Japanese woman in the 2018 season then obtained in Takahata (Oct. 28, 2018) her personal best of 4:29:45. This year she competed in Kobe where she finished sixth in 1:35:51.
Her goal will be to get the new personal best.
Together with her they have already competed on 50km either:
- Natsumi Kurahara who came third here last year at Wajima in 3:44:45
- Kelly Ruddick (AUS) who boasts a personal best on the 50km of 4:54:31 established in Melbourne (AUS) on 2.12.2018
Also noteworthy at its first 50km Masumi Fuchise who boasts a personal best on 20km of 1:28:03 obtained in Kobe on January 25, 2009, but which this year has already competed twice on the 20km:
- on Feb. 17, 2019 in Kobe: 4th place in 1:32:23
- on Mar. 17, 2019 in Nomi: 12th place in 1:34:34
World season list (first 10) of 50km women.
| MARK | COMPETITOR | DOB | NAT | VENUE | DATE |
| | | | | | |
1 | 3:59:15 | Hong LIU | 12 MAY 1987 | CHN | Huangshan (CHN) | 09 MAR 2019 |
2 | 4:03:51 | Maocuo LI | 20 OCT 1992 | CHN | Huangshan (CHN) | 09 MAR 2019 |
3 | 4:07:30 | Faying MA | 30 AUG 1993 | CHN | Huangshan (CHN) | 09 MAR 2019 |
4 | 4:11:01 | Raquel GONZALEZ | 16 NOV 1989 | ESP | El Vendrell (ESP) | 10 FEB 2019 |
5 | 4:12:44 | Claire TALLENT | 06 JUL 1981 | AUS | Santee, CA (USA) | 26 JAN 2019 |
6 | 4:13:56 | Mirna Sucely ORTÍZ FLORES | 28 FEB 1987 | GUA | Guatemala City (GUA) | 24 FEB 2019 |
7 | 4:14:31 | Pengqin JIANG | 05 SEP 1995 | CHN | Huangshan (CHN) | 09 MAR 2019 |
8 | 4:14:49 | Tiantian BAI | 14 AUG 1998 | CHN | Huangshan (CHN) | 09 MAR 2019 |
9 | 4:15:33 | Yingliu WANG | 01 MAY 1992 | CHN | Huangshan (CHN) | 09 MAR 2019 |
10 | 4:16:33 | Mária CZAKOVÁ | 02 OCT 1988 | SVK | Dudince (SVK) | 23 MAR 2019 |