The second chart that we propose our readers is that of 20km women.
We summarize data selection standard.
- We have first of all chosen the best ten performances in the world as they appear from the official lists of the IAAF
- We have limited our choice to the last five years, starting from 2014 up to and including 2018
- The average speed of these ten best performances in the world is the reference mark for every single year
- We then analyzed the ten best performances for each Area, obtaining the relative average speed for each Area. The difference in terms of km/hr between that obtained by analyzing the data of the first ten athletes in the world and those of the top ten athletes in each area is what we have called "negative spread".
Some considerations
- The graph curves of the average speed measured at world level and those of the graphs of the same speed detected at the level of Europe and at the Asia level are very similar over the years.
- The only exceptions are the average European speed which in the years 2018 and 2019 occur in antithesis.
In 2018, while the average world speed and that of Asia show a slight decrease, that of Europe shows a marked increase.
In 2019 the opposite occurs. Faced with a significant increase in Asia and a slight increase in the world, Europe shows a marked fall.
- The average speed recorded at world level and that recorded at European level are both affected by the performances of the athletes of Russia in each of the years taken into consideration. It is true that since 2015 the exclusion from international competitions has decreased their presence in the World and European rankings, but it is also true that the performances obtained in their "Winter and/or Summer Championships" (in Sochi and/or Cheboksary) have always been of a high standard.
This is all the more true in Europe compared to the World level in which the influence of the performances of the athletes of Russia are felt less.
In fact, since 2015 (the year in which Russia has been excluded from the World Championships in Beijing), the average speed curve of women in the world has gradually decreased or remains constant.
On the other hand, at the European level, with the exception of 2018, there is a more pronounced fall which reached the peak of -0.36km/hr this season (World: 13,88 - Europe: 13,52)
The following tables show us the relative "negative spread"
| 20km women - average speed | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| | | | | | |
| World average speed | 14,00 | 13,88 | 13,88 | 13,83 | 13,88 |
| | | | | | |
| Europe average speed | 13,91 | 13,78 | 13,69 | 13,77 | 13,53 |
| | | | | | |
| Negative Spread: Europe-World | -0,09 | -0,10 | -0,19 | -0,06 | -0,36 |
| 20km women - average speed | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| | | | | | |
| World average speed | 14,00 | 13,88 | 13,88 | 13,83 | 13,88 |
| | | | | | |
| Asia average speed | 13,62 | 13,53 | 13,65 | 13,50 | 13,74 |
| | | | | | |
| Negative Spread: Asia-World | -0,38 | -0,35 | -0,23 | -0,33 | -0,14 |
from which we note that the only year in which the average speeds were very similar was the 2017 in which the negative spreads compared to the world average were 0.19 (the one between Europe and World) and 0.23 (the one between Asia and World).
That year in Sochi the three athletes of Russia who were still the first ten places in the world and European rankings had obtained more human performance than the exceptional ones we were used to (Yelena Lashmanova: 1:25:18, Yekaterina Medvedeva: 1:25:22 and Sofiya Brodatskaya: 1:26:27). On the other hand, China's selection for the World Championships in London 2017 held in Huangshan had three similar results (Lu Xiuzhi: 1:26:28, Wang Na: 1:26:29 and Yang Jiayu: 1:26:35 then improved in London where gold wins in 1:26:18).
In 2019 in Asia we are witnessing a clear improvement in the results in 20km women road walk athletes in Japan and this fact pushes the value of Asia's average speed higher.
At the moment, China's hegemony in Asia is by no means to be discussed, but we know how things went in a few years at the male level. On the other hand, the Chinese selection for the 20km to Tokyo/Sapporo to be held between February 29th and March 1st, 2020 in Huangshan will certainly be another race with impressive performances.
Another moment of reflection is given by the examination of the curves of the average speeds of the NACAC (North America and the Caribbean) and the CONSUDATLE (South America).
Between 2014 and 2016, their trend is almost overlapping, while in 2017 South America gets better performances.
This is explained by the growth in the 20km women of nations like Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Brazil. Furthermore, in the 2019 season the splendid result of Glenda Morejon (ECU) in La Coruna means that the average speed of South America is very close to those of Europe, something almost unthinkable in the past: Europe: 13,52 - CONSUDATLE: 13,38.
The following tables show us the relative "negative spreads"
| 20km women - average speed | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| | | | | | |
| World average speed | 14,00 | 13,88 | 13,88 | 13,83 | 13,88 |
| | | | | | |
| NACAC average speed | 12,87 | 13,15 | 12,99 | 12,84 | 12,97 |
| | | | | | |
| Negative Spread: NACAC-World | -1,13 | -0,73 | -0,89 | -0,99 | -0,91 |
| 20km women - average speed | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| | | | | | |
| World average speed | 14,00 | 13,88 | 13,88 | 13,83 | 13,88 |
| | | | | | |
| CONSUDATLE average speed | 12,91 | 13,13 | 13,29 | 13,06 | 13,38 |
| | | | | | |
| Negative Spread: Consudatle-World | -1,09 | -0,75 | -0,59 | -0,77 | -0,50 |
| 20km women - average speed | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| | | | | | |
| Europe average speed | 13,91 | 13,78 | 13,69 | 13,77 | 13,52 |
| | | | | | |
| CONSUDATLE average speed | 12,91 | 13,13 | 13,29 | 13,06 | 13,38 |
| | | | | | |
| Negative Spread: Consudatle-Europe | -1,00 | -0,65 | -0,40 | -0,71 | -0,14 |
The last table: the number of athletes in 20km women road walk in the world between 2014 and 2018:
| 20km women: How many athletes from Asia and Europe in first 10 in World | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| | | | | | | |
| Asia (China) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| | | | | | | |
| Asia (Japan) | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| | | | | | | |
| Europe | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
We leave our readers in the following link the consulation of the chart and the complete table of average speeds in the five-year period and the considerations they would like to make.
We summarize them as follows:
- Asia on the shields
- Europe in pronounced fall that wakes up only during the European Championships years.
- Very high growth in the five-year period (and in the last season in particular) of South America (CONSUDATLE).