The second day of the Eyofs in Banska Bystrica (SVK) draws to a close with the women's walking race over the 5,000m track walk
Thirteen athletes representing Greece, Romania, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, France, Austria, Portugal, Hungary and the hosts of Slovakia will arrive at the start.
Immediately after the gunshot the best ones take the lead to the group that is led by Aldara Meilan Garcia (ESP) who boasts to date a personal best of 23:32.62. Together with her Alexandra Kovacs (HUN - PB 23:34.50), Lena Auvray (FRA - PB 23:19.50), Gabriela Santos (POR - PB 24:24.38) and Sevastiani Aslanidou (GRE - PB 24:32.10)
The split time to 1.000m sees Aldara Meilan Garcia in the lead in 4 33.92, but the four look like a train with a locomotive and four wagons.
Aldara Meilan Garcia representing the locomotive is responsible for setting the pace for the rest of the race with the following steps every 1,000m
- 2.000m in 9:11:48 (4:38.76)
- 3.000m in 13:49:58 (4:38.10)
But at this point only two wagons (Alexandra Kovacs and Lena Auvray) remain attached to the locomotive.
They still pass about 700m and here is the twist. The Hungarian, who had been showing some technical problems to be solved for a few laps, is unable to make a technical gesture that the jury can accept, and is stopped in the penalty area for 30 seconds as the rule states for a 5,000m race.
When she exit from penalty zone, she is behind Juste Perveneckaite (LTU) who in the meantime has overtaken the other wagon that had detached from the locomotive (Gabriela Santos, POR).
The next split times for leaders are:
- 4.000m in 18:27.47 (4:37.89)
- last 1.000m in 4:28.05
For gold, therefore, the battle narrows between Spain (Aldara Meilan Garcia) and France (Lena Auvray) and will continue until the last meter of the race.
It seems that the example of Massimo Stano and Masatora Kavano, as already mentioned for yesterday's male competition, has attracted proselytes and shows up again today with his thrilling.
But today the solution is different. In the conflict between prey and hunter today the hunter wins.
Aldara Meilan Garcia is joined and overtaken by Lena Auvray on the finish line and in the end only 6/100 of a second will separate the two contenders.
For the bronze, Alexandra Kovacs manages to overtake Juste Perveneckaite (LTU) despite the 30" stop in the penalty area
Order of arrival
1.- Lena Auvray (FRA) in 22:55.52 personal best
2.- Aldara Meilan Garcia (ESP) in 22:55.58 personal best
3.- Alexandra Kovacs (HUN) in 23:17.79 personal best
4.- Juste Perveneckaite (LTU) in 23:27.50 personal best
5.- Gabriela Santos (POR) in 23:48.50 personal best
6.- Sevastiani Aslanidou (GRE) in 23:52.41 personal best
7.- Beatrice Bertolone (ITA) in 24:02.70
8.- Petra Kusa (SVK) in 24:37.37 personal best
So far the news.
However, we cannot ignore the controversy, especially on social media, about the last 50m of the race.
By clicking on this link you will find a video clip with a comment. We left the conclusions to our readers.
Risultati Ufficiali - Official results