Sunday, September 1 will be held in Chiasso the 15th edition of the classic "Chiasso in marcia" competition organized by the Lugano Athletic Club, of which the former walker Marie Polli is responsible for race walk sector.
This year the test that will take place on the 20km distance on road will also be valid for the Swiss Open Championship.
Together with the athletes who will compete for the Swiss Open Championship there will also be two tests for the U20: that of men on the distance of 20km and that of women on the distance of 10km and some races for U16s and younger.
The course will be along Corso San Gottardo with departure and arrival in front of the Municipality of Chiasso.
20km men
There are ten entries, but among these there are high-level names.
The most famous of all is Cai Zelin (CHN), vice Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016, who arrives in Chiasso for an interesting distance test.
Together with him, team-mate Wang Qin (CHN) who will take part in the 50km race in Doha. To him his trainer Sandro Damilano asked for a race aimed at passing the test with which he will compete in Doha, but with an increase in the last 5km.
Besides the two Chinese there should be the presence of Quentin Rew (NZL), Damian Blocki (POL) and Jakub Jelonek (POL) all athletes who are entry times around 1:21:00.
Another athlete of international interest registered yesterday (and who is not on the list of members) is Evan Dunfee (CAN). Also Dunfee, like Wang Qin (CHN) will compete in Doha at 50km and here it will certainly be very interesting to see the two athletes in a 20km test.
20km women
Also in the women's race there are ten female athletes registered.
And even in this case the most successful is Qieyang Shenjie (CHN) silver medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games and current leader of the IAAF ranking with 1,300 points.
The strong Tibetan athlete, however, comes from a period of inactivity following a hamstring resentment that forced her to rest for about ten days. The expectation is to see her get a mark around 1:28:30-1:29:00
Another interesting name is that of Jemima Montag (AUS) that recently in Naples (ITA) won silver at the 2019 University Games which together with Valentina Trapletti (ITA) and Alana Barber (NZL) should have its say for the other positions of the podium.