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European Race Walking Team Championships

This could be the year of the underdog - at least Zivile Vaiciukeviciute hopes so.
The surprise winner of the European Race Walking Cup on 19 May thinks a second bite of a tasty apple awaits in the heat of Doha.
The 23-year-old twin is more than aware that the next major 20km is like no other: the gun goes on the IAAF World Championships final at 11.30pm on 29 September - about the time Vaiciukeviciute normally sips her bed time cocoa, or the Lithuanian equivalent.
The effect of a unique race spanning two days is intriguing. Who will adjust, and who will turn into a pumpkin as athletes hit the midnight hour? “It’s difficult to imagine what will happen in Doha,” she offered. “That midnight start will be interesting for everyone, and probably different from anything else that's gone before, so maybe it gives a chance to everyone rather than a small group of favourites.”
Vaiciukeviciute believes the desert is as good a place as anywhere to replicate the calm and cool that saw her triumph in Alytus, even though there are more than 20 walkers with faster 2019 times.
That’s not the name of the game in World Championship racing, as Lu Xiuzhi found out two years ago. Headed for a medal at London 2017, the Chinese race walker met the dreaded red disqualification disc yards from the finish line.
The eventual bronze medal, Antonella Palmisano from Italy, was too distant to see she had moved into third until someone told her.
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As for Vaiciukeviciute in the same race, she was nearly a lap behind but still scored a 1:31:23 PB for 19th. That was two years ago: this is now. The Lithuanian is three minutes quicker than her London mark and now mixing it with the best.
Last year at the European Championships in Berlin, she recorded 1:28:07 for fifth, also a national U23 record, while treading on the heels of long-time Lithuanian number one, Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene.
The latter had a bad day in Alytus, and looked slightly shocked as the understudy lapped her in the closing stages but even then the fierce fight for gold was far from over.
Vaiciukeviciute inched ahead of Spain’s Raquel Gonzalez but when that battle was won, Laura Garcia-Caro picked up the pace to push the Lithuanian all the way to the line.
At halfway through the final lap, it looked as if Garcia-Caro was making ground, but as both turned the final corner, the eventual winner dug deep to forge home.
In fact, Vaiciukeviciute reeled off 2kms splits with never more than seven seconds between them; and only appeared in the front two on the penultimate lap.
Buried behind shades with head down, she only made the telling move when it mattered.
The winner said she was surprised to break the tape, but her progress tells a different story.
Third in Dudince in March, and fourth a month later in Podebrady battling classy international fields suggests she is getting used to life at the top.
“When you start to win one thing; it’s easier to win the next, and gradually you have the mentality to expect to do well,” she added. “All the same, I was surprised to be where I was during the race in Alytus, but then got used to it and relaxed. I felt better the more the race wore on, and thought a medal was a good possibility.
“There was no pressure because I was really thinking about a team medal. Of course, it helped I was competing in Lithuania at home. Everything was familiar.”
That team medal didn't materialise as it did in 2017 when Lithuania took bronze. However, the country still finished fourth and with the likes of 20km race walkers Artur Mastianica and Marius ÅÂ½iukas also knocking on the medal door, a tiny country of fewer than three million is clearly punching above its walking weight.
Vaiciukeviciute barely raised an eyebrow. She feels European success for Lithuania was always on the cards.
“We have a lot of great athletes,” she said. “It’s just taken time and dedication to gradually ease up the standings and achieve good results. I’m sure there is more to come.”
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Lithuania's Zivile Vaiciukeviciute came from under the radar to win the 20km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup on home soil in Alytus on 19 May

Zivile Vaiciukeviciute

 This could be the year of the underdog - at least Zivile Vaiciukeviciute hopes so. The surprise winner of the European Race Walking Cup on 19 May thinks a

Vaiciukeviciute relishes the role of underdog with Doha approaching

After winning the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus on 19 May in a championship record of 3:37:43, the big news from Yohann Diniz is there are two more 50km races in his career - and that’s it.
The Frenchman has no intention of becoming the force of nature that is his contemporary Jesus Angel Garcia from Spain who continues to defy the odds as well as Father Time by walking well under four hours as he did in Alytus at age 49.
Diniz will line up for the 50km nudging midnight on 28 September at the IAAF World Championships in Doha before bowing out altogether at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo - hopefully on a better note than in Rio de Janeiro four years earlier when illness wrecked his campaign for a medal. 
By Tokyo, he will be just five months short of his 43rd birthday and while it is not out of the question that Diniz could challenge for medals in big events over the course of the next decade (the third-placer in Alytus Joao Vieira from Portugal is 43), the world record-holder has designs to go out on top. 
There were question marks over whether he had recovered from fatigue fractures that denied him a European Championship appearance in 2018 but Diniz emphatically answered them all around the one kilometre loop in Alytus. 
In fact, the nearest anyone got to the multi-medallist was on the start line. 
From the gun, Diniz forged to the front, and by the five kilometre mark, he was 53 seconds ahead of his nearest pursuers. Thereafter, his metronomic head and legs reeled off five kilometre splits between 21:14 and 21:40. 
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If that seems a wide-ish margin, the explanation was evident to all spectators and watchers on the live feed. Diniz had to endure two toilet stops but unlike the Olympic Games three years ago, this time he was able to dive into portable cabins on the side of the tree-lined road.
Even though the IAAF World Championships brings a phalanx of Japanese and Chinese race walkers ready to stamp on his heels in Doha, Diniz nonetheless shot to the top of the 2019 list in Alytus and it won’t do prospective challengers any good to learn his pace was deliberately slower than might have been gambled without the enforced injury break. 
“I had discussed with my coach and preferred to slow down in Alytus,” said Diniz after the race. 
“I know my opponents are willing to play second place and expect a failure on my part. So, you have to work mentally on it and trust your experience. As I get older, I get wiser - and at this rate, I should be ready for the perfect race at the 2036 Olympics!'
However, there is always a doubt over the head of the man from Reims when he lines up for the longer effort. He has succumbed in all three prior Olympic appearances so far, although he did manage to muster up an eighth-place in Rio de Janeiro despite collapsing on at least two occasions in the last fifteen kilometres. 
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-conversation='none' data-lang='en'>
Earlier today, Yohann Diniz returned to international action by winning the 50km race walk in a championship record and world lead of 3:37:43. 
Diniz 3:37:43 
Dziubin 3:45:51 
Vieira 3:46:38 
Brzozwski 3:46:42 
Boyce 3:48:13 
Alfredas Pliadis <a href='https://t.co/nkKMJfOTt5'>pic.twitter.com/nkKMJfOTt5</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1130074748501807104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>May 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
But in the black-and-white world of Diniz, there is a gold medal from the World Championships in 2017, three from the European Championships - the latter in 2014 producing a current 3:32:33 world record; and a hat-trick of European Cup wins, the first in 2007 over 20km.
Feast or famine, it was hardly surprising Diniz admitted a dose of nerves on the Alytus start line. “I was pleased with the race,” he said. “But on the day, I felt a stress about the effort that was coming, the event - I had a ball in the stomach. 
“I had not raced for nearly two years, so I was lacking reference points and sensations in my body. I felt stiff to start with and picked up a disqualification card very early on. 
“It took me 20km to relax, but considering May brings the first high temperatures of the year, I am pleased with how it went. It felt really hot, but by August you are used to the heat.”
Dealing with the conditions was helped by a hyperthermic chamber back in Reims where the heat was literally turned up to aid acclimatisation. Barely a minute after he finished, Diniz was joking with teammates and media, and even asked one Russian journalist if he had brought any restorative vodka. 
But the French champion’s bonhomie belied an effort that was hard and long, and Diniz revealed the end of a stellar career is in sight. He heads to Font Romeu in the Pyrénées for more altitude training between 10 July and 10 August, and then back to Reims for final preparations ahead of Doha.
“I have two more 50km races as goals, and then I will retire for sure,” he said. 
“In Alytus I felt fine and it was also great I have qualified for Tokyo ahead of the 3.44:00 qualifying time, so all is well and I am savouring every moment and really, really enjoying it.
“I hope there are a couple more to come.”

Yohann Diniz is planning to defend his 50km race walk title at the IAAF World Championships in Doha this September

Yohann Diniz

 After winning the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus on 19 May in a championship record of 3:37:43, the big news from Yohann Diniz is there are two more 50km

Diniz: “I have two more 50km races and then I will retire for sure”

European Race Walking Cup champion Eleonora Giorgi discovered just how tough walking 50 kilometres is on Sunday (19) in Alytus when the event was held as part of the European Race Walking Cup programme for the first time.
Tough enough thinks the winner and newly minuted European record-holder to revise plans for a repeat in the scorching heat of Doha at the IAAF World Championships in September.
The 29-year-old stepped up to the long race after struggling with technical problems that saw her suffer crucial disqualifications over the last four years.
She was on the cusp for a medal at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome three years ago before seeing the dreaded red disc thrust at her on the lip of the stadium with 200m to go while vying for the silver medal.
Before that, Giorgi was also removed by officials at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in 2015.
So it made sense for someone with her latent talent to dip a toe into a race where she could slow down, be technically sound from first to last, and still win. Even so, those debut 50 laps on the Alytus course in Lithuania have raised doubts about a second attempt.
“I will decide with my coach what I will do for Doha,” she said. “I would prefer to do the 50K, but it will depend on how long it will take me to recover. I am very competitive at the 20K also.”
Maybe. But it was over four years ago she set a personal best of 1:26:17 in winning her first European Cup title in Murcia despite two top spots at the same distance in March and April of this year.
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Those victories in Dudince and PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady were heartening and the latter was a solo 1:27:46 effort, the fastest time by a European in 2019
But there are a few - especially among the Chinese contingent - capable of walking a minute faster in Doha in spite of the conditions and a unique near midnight start.
Once Giorgi sits down with coach Gianni Perricelli, she might prefer to work out a way to even-pace racing rather than endure another two uneven halves as in Alytus.
“I had planned for four hours or 4:05 so it was fast,” she explained. “But 50K is hard and it is unpredictable. I got into my own rhythm and I felt good. However, I slowed down at halfway, and then realised that the Spanish girl [Julia TakÃ¥cs] was behind me so I had to fight in the last five kilometres.”
And fight she did. At 30km, Giorgi had more than four minutes over TakÃ¥cs but the European bronze medallist from Berlin - and a veteran of three other 50km races - moved smoothly through the field and ahead of European and world champion Ines Henriques from Portugal into second place.
That experience allowed TakÃ¥cs to increase her tempo and finish less than a minute behind Giorgi who nonetheless mounted a final 4:42 kilometre to counter the Spaniard’s late charge and come home in style.
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Giorgi’s original plan was to study form and attach herself to a group of men aiming for four hours. She was forced to review the situation very soon after the 8:00am start in Alytus.
Nonetheless, unlike the relative sprint that is 20km, Giorgi also gave herself a bit of breathing space.
“I had hoped I could walk with and get help from the group of men and do four hours. But they were going faster than that so I had to walk alone,” she said. “It was all right. I could listen to my own rhythm, and also I had time to think.”
It also answered another question about whether mixed gender races could be useful to women getting a pacemaking tow from men? Clearly not, at least as far as Sunday went for the Italian champion.
Even so, Giorgi thinks there is still life in the 50km - at least for the next couple of years before proposed changes could see it make way for shorter events.
“I think the women deserve the same rights as the men, and we are improving fast and breaking records all the time like at Alytus, with the European record,” she said.
The summit meeting with her coach over the next few days will decide whether Giorgi tries to improve all the more at 50km - and on paper what would seem a near-certain IAAF World Championships medal - or take a gamble that is the return to 20km and a technically sound race.

Antonella Palmisano will be defending her 20km race walk title at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on Sunday while teammate Eleonora Giorgi will make her 50km race walk debut

Giorgi and Palmisano

 European Race Walking Cup champion Eleonora Giorgi discovered just how tough walking 50 kilometres is on Sunday (19) in Alytus when the event was held as part

Giorgi keeps all options open after breaking the European 50km race walk record

The European Athletics Executive Board has announced that PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady in the Czech Republic will stage the next three editions of the European Race Walking Team Championships, formerly known as the European Race Walking Cup, in 2021, 2023 and 2025.
The Czech spa town which is situated on the River Elbe is synonymous with race walking in athletics circles. PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady has already staged the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in 1997, the European Race Walking Cup in 2017 as well as the annual European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting which dates back to 1929.
Delving even further back into history, a 50km race walking event was held between Prague and PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady as far back as 1894 - two years before the first Summer Olympics in Athens and 38 years before the 50km race walk made its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 1932.
“We know PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady has a long history in staging well-organised and high quality international race walking events so we are therefore very happy to announce the next three editions of the European Race Walking Team Championships will take place in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady,” said European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.
“The fact we have awarded PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady the next three editions of the European Race Walking Team Championships shows we have the fullest confidence in the Local Organising Committee to deliver the best environment for the athletes.”
The 2019 European Race Walking Cup took place on Sunday 19 May in the Lithuanian town of Alytus where Italy topped the medal table with three gold medals. One of those gold medals came from Eleonora Giorgi who won the inaugural staging of the women’s 50km race walk in a European record of 4:04:50.
In total, eleven European Athletics Member Federations - and one Authorised Neutral Athlete - won medals in Alytus.

Christopher Linke winning at the European Race Walking Cup Poděbrady 2017

Christopher Linke winning at the European Race Walking Cup Poděbrady 2017 

 The European Athletics Executive Board has announced that PodÄ&#155;brady in the Czech Republic will stage the next three editions of the European Race

Poděbrady to stage European Race Walking Team Championships in 2021, 2023 and 2025

Eleonora Giorgi lived up to her billing to claim a first European Race Walking Cup title as well as a European record over 50km on her debut at the distance and with temperatures hovering around 25C by the finish.
The Italian removed the mark of 4:05:56 set by Portugal’s Ines Henriques that was originally a world best to win in 4:04:50, and did it the hard way.
As Diniz in the men’s event, Giorgi was away from the start, forging a big lead with every stride. She hit the 10 kilometre mark in 48:18 with Henriques (50:06) marginally ahead of Spain’s Julia Takacs and Khrystyna Yudkina from Ukraine. By the 25km mark, Giorgi was more than four minutes clear and wasn't too far off sub-four hour pace in 2:00:37.
As it turned out, the last 15 kilometres were understandably hard for Giorgi. At 31 kilometres, she still had more than four minutes over Takacs who had just moved into undisputed second. And the Spaniard - with experience at the distance - used it to good effect as she increased tempo to finish less than a minute behind Giorgi who still mounted a final rally to walk the last kilometre in 4:42.
Takacs was also under the previous European record in second, also regaining the Spanish record with 4:05:46. Henriques made up the podium in third in 4:13:57 and behind her there were personal bests for Ukraine’s Valentyna Myronchuk (4:15:50) and Nastassia Yatsevich from Belarus (4:16:39).
Bekmez delivers while Orsoni surprises in the U20 races
There was never a doubt about the winner of the women’s U20 10km as Meryem Bekmez destroyed the field to walk solo from the gun.
The young Turk’s only concern was weaving her way through 50km walkers throughout, and it needed a nifty piece of organisation to get the winning tape in place just before the 18-year-old broke it with something to spare.
Turkey was by far the strongest team on paper and so it proved with Evin Demir taking silver - albeit more than a minute behind her teammate. Neither posted a personal best, but in the heat and with medals on their mind rather than times - it didn't matter.
The surprise of the race saw the third Turk Kader Dost fade over the last two kilometres to be first passed by Pauline Stey from France and then in the last 200 metres by Estonia’s Jekaterina Mirotvortseva - the first time that country has made a top four finish in a major race and with a 48:05 national U20 record.
 [PHOTO src='1286932' size='mediumLandscape' align='right']
If Bekmez’s gold was an odds-on certainty - Riccardo Orsoni was a surprise U20 men’s winner. The Italian shrieked with delight as he broke the tape, which was hardly a surprise - 30 seconds earlier he had been a distant second.
Fate had intervened to deprive race favourite Lukasz Niedzialek of a gutsy win, when he was pulled over to the pit lane to serve a one-minute suspension in sight of the winning line. Orsoni duly seized his chance to not only win but remove 15 seconds from his PB in 42:43.
Spain’s Pedro Conesa had originally been part of a small group breathing down Niedzialek’s neck, but walked the second half of the race an isolated third only to receive a welcome silver instead. Right at the death, and with medal hopes seemingly dashed, Niedzialek sprung out of captivity and blasted the last 60 metres to make sure of bronze.
The individual winners also doubled their medal hauls as Turkey and Italy came away with the team honours in the U20 races.

Eleonora Giorgi broke the European record on her 50km race walk debut at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus

Eleonora Giorgi

 Eleonora Giorgi lived up to her billing to claim a first European Race Walking Cup title as well as a European record over 50km on her debut at the distance

Giorgi sets a European record of 4:04:50 on her 50km debut in Alytus

Yohann Diniz proved he was a worthy champion again when he walked solo - this time to a championship record at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on Sunday (19).
Neither heat - nor recent injury concerns - proved a stop to the Frenchman, 41, who was never in danger of missing out on a third title in competition history.
His pace was metronomic - 4:25 per lap - and stuck to it except for a fast finish to complete in 3:37:43 which was remarkable in the circumstances. His winning time was the third fastest of his career, bettered only by his world record of 3:32:12 which he set at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich and his championship record time of 3:33:12 from the IAAF World Championships in London two years ago.
As Diniz shaved more than three minutes off Vladimir Kanaykin's long-standing championship record, a very distant second went to Dzmitry Dziubin from Belarus who made a breakthrough leap to the podium after joining Diniz’s chasers at the 22 kilometre checkpoint. The Belarusian gradually forged a gap over the rest, walking the last 20 kilometres on his own to notch a 3:45:51 clocking - a PB by more than two minutes.
The bronze was something of another surprise on a morning of quite a few in four races. At 43, Portugal’s João Vieira prevailed to win a first 50km medal in a major competition - and nine years since he won silver in the European Championships in the 20km race walk.
In fact, it was his duel with Artur Brzozowski and Brendan Boyce that provided the race’s true excitement. For much of the second half, the three of them duelled, never more than a few seconds apart.
Irishman Boyce had to give way just after the 40 kilometre mark but he still walked to a PB - 3:48:13 for fifth - while there was a sprint between Poland’s Brzozowski and Vieira, with the Portuguese veteran edging it by four seconds.
Older still is Jesus Angel Garcia and the Spaniard, who won the inaugural edition of this event in 1996, was a creditable 15th in 3:57:51 just months away from his 50th birthday.
Garcia will still come away from Alytus with a silver medal in his hand luggage from the team race. The Ukrainians successfully defended their team crown with 26 points, comfortably ahead of Spain (43) and Belarus (49).

Yohann Diniz returned to his best form after injury and illness to win the 50km race walk title at the European Race Walking Cup in a championship record

 Yohann Diniz proved he was a worthy champion again when he walked solo - this time to a championship record at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus,

Diniz smashes 50km championship record on his comeback race in Alytus

The women’s 20km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on Sunday (19) produced the race of the day - and the result of the day if you are Lithuanian.
The country’s fine form at team level finally produced the goods on an individual basis for Zivile Vaiciukeviciute. Bronze medallists two years ago, the home nation was fancied to do well as a collective again, and maybe Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene would be in the lead group.
But she looked slightly shocked as her understudy at the European Championships last year lapped her in the closing stages. Even then the fierce fight for gold was far from over.
Vaiciukeviciute inched ahead of Spain’s Raquel Gonzalez but then Laura GarcÃ­a-Caro picked up the pace to push the joyful Lithuanian all the way to the line.
Halfway through the final lap, Garcia-Caro was making ground, but as both made the final turn, the eventual winner dug deep to forge home.
From the start, defending champion Antonella Palmisano set out her stall and for half a kilometre European champion Maria Perez gave chase before easing back to settle in a group of 10.
Two laps later, Perez was disappearing back down the field and already 43 seconds behind the leader. The European champion from last year was clearly in trouble, and going backwards.
Despite her status as event poster girl in her hometown, maybe the pressure also got to Virbalyte-Dimsiene, who walked a national record 1:27:59 for fourth at Berlin 2018 - but was never in contention today.
Instead the baton was picked up by Vaiciukeviciute who set a national U23 record with 1:28.07 in that same race to finish fifth. She was right up with a group of six as Palmisano turned the screw but the best laid plans of race favourites often go astray and lap 13 proved unlucky for Palmisano as her early strength visibly drained.
Vaiciukeviciute and Gonzales drew level, and although the Italian tried everything she knew, the elastic snapped at at the 14km checkpoint.
For the first time in the day, local voices were cheering a possible home win and even the course commentator got in on the act to urge the crowd to up the decibels with ‘Vaiciukeviciute’ as a chant turned into three syllables. It was evident the medals were headed to the front three at 15km (1:11:54) and when Gonzales’s head was thrown back trying to gulp air over the closing stages, 23-year-old Vaiciukeviciute knew she was about to win her first major honour.
On a warm afternoon in Alytus, Vaiciukeviciute set a season’s best of 1:29:48 to defeat the Spanish duo of Garcia-Caro (1:29:55) and Gonzalez (1:30:17). Perez faded to eleventh in 1:34:08 while reigning champion Palmisano, who was such a convincing winner in Podebrady two years ago, was a non-finisher.
The Spaniards won the team title with 16 points from Italy (27 points) but the only disappointment for the home fans was Belarus pipping Lithuania to team bronze - 33 to 36 points.
Karlstrom takes the biggest win of his career in a European-leading time
Born in Sweden but made in Australia is close to the truth for Perseus Karlstrom who claimed victory in the men’s 20km race walk in Alytus in a European-leading time of 1:19:54.
Wearing fancy dress yellow and blue Viking helmet in the last 200 metres - which brought back memories of Karsten Warholm’s celebration at the IAAF World Championships in London two years ago - complete with fetching pigtails, the 29-year-old celebrated his first major victory by moving from third in Podebrady right to the top of the podium.
The Swede has spent several successful western winters in Australia and even has an Australian coach in Brent Vallance.
 [PHOTO src='1286929' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
A trio of high profile wins at 20km this year in a row bodes well for Karlstrom ahead of the IAAF World Championships in Doha later this year and he played the waiting game to perfection in Alytus.
 
From the gun, Great Britain’s Tom Bosworth and defending champion Christopher Linke were first to show and shot through the three kilometre mark in 12:03 - but ominously a chasing group heaving with talent were biding their time.
The Brit inched ahead by two seconds at 5km (20:05) with Miguel Angel Lopez the first of a 12-strong throng, a further 11 seconds in arrears.
That gap from Bosworth to Linke grew wider by lap six, and the immediate chasers were down to seven. By the eight kilometre mark in 32:05 for the fair-haired leader, Bosworth was nine seconds to the good over Linke and 22 seconds ahead of the lead group.
Halfway was reached in 40:11 but the group with designs on a win had swallowed up Linke and cut the deficit to 13 seconds. With five laps remaining, the Briton was reeled in by Karlstrom and Spain’s Diego Garcia - and no wonder. The pair notched 3:48 for the fastest kilometre so far.
Karlstrom showed he meant business as he discarded his dark glasses on the penultimate lap, and so did European bronze medallist Vasiliy Mizinov - one of two neutral athletes competing in the 20km race walk.
Cleverly biding his time at the back of the chasing group, he lit the afterburners to pass Garcia and claim silver in 1:20:18 and five seconds ahead of the second Spaniard.
Bosworth rallied to hold on to fourth in 1:20:53 and his effort was not without reward. Backed up by Callum Wilkinson in ninth in 1:21:54, Great Britain won their first ever medal at the European Race Walking Cup with team silver behind Spain and in front of Ukraine.
European champion Alvaro Martin and former world and European champion Miguel Angel Lopez were the other scoring members for Spain in fifth (1:20:59) and sixth (1:21:00) respectively while reigning champion Linke slipped down to 12th in 1:23:21.

Zivile Vaiciukeviciute produced something of a surprise performance with victory in the 20km race walk on home soil at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus

 The women’s 20km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on Sunday (19) produced the race of the day - and the result of the day if

Vaiciukeviciute powers to home glory in the 20km race walk in Alytus

The Alytus 2019 European Race Walking Cup on 19 May will be streamed live without restrictions <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OiOuy7DnII' target='_blank'>here</a> from 6:00am local time (7:00am CET) on Sunday.
The first event on the programme is the 50km race walk in which the men and women start together. The men’s line-up is headed by France’s Yohann Diniz who returns to action after injury while the inaugural women’s race features world and European champion Ines Henriques from Portugal and Italy’s Eleonora Giorgi.
The programme concludes with the women’s 20km race walk at 4:30pm (3:30pm CET) in which Antonella Palmisano will seek to defend her title with opposition coming from European champion Maria Perez from Spain. 
There will also be high hopes on the Lithuanian contingent who won team bronze in Podebrady two years ago and had two individual finishers inside the top-five at the European Championships in Berlin.
Live results can be found <a href='https://www.european-athletics.org/competitions/european-race-walking-cup/2019/schedules-results/index.html' target='_blank'>here</a>.

The European Race Walking Cup takes place in the Lithuanian town of Alytus on Sunday 19 May

European Race Walking Cup

 The Alytus 2019 European Race Walking Cup on 19 May will be streamed live without restrictions here from 6:00am local time (7:00am CET) on Sunday. The first

Live streaming available for European Race Walking Cup

You can never be sure what you’re going to get with Yohann Diniz which makes the 50km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on Sunday (19) which is streamed live <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=4OiOuy7DnII&app=desktop' target='_blank'>here</a> all the more exciting.
The world record-holder and reigning world champion either soars or sinks with very little middle ground in between. But one thing’s for sure: the Frenchman will set an electric pace and force rivals to squint at his disappearing back as early as the 10km checkpoint. 
It’s around here that Diniz, 41, will either walk to solo glory or come to grief as he did in the last three Olympic Games. 
He could probably afford to walk 10 minutes slower than the 3:32:33 world record set at the Zurich 2014 European Athletics Championships and still win - but that’s not his style. 
Nominally looking at silver and bronze should be a strong Ukrainian quartet - even in the absence of reigning European champion Maryan Zakalnytskyy - spearheaded by defending champion Ivan Banzeruk who has personal best of 3:44:49 for the 50km race walk. 
A solid Spanish team headed by Benjamin Sanchez should also be in contention while Italy with the dependable Marco De Luca on their team should challenge for team honours. 
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Now 49 Jesus Angel Garcia will be making his tenth European Race Walking Cup appearance on 19 May. 
He won the inaugural 50km walk title in 1996 and is one of four athletes over 40 to register for the 50km in Alytus. 
Garcia (49) 
Vieira (43) 
Liesting (41) 
Diniz (41) <a href='https://t.co/28tU9OmB0d'>pic.twitter.com/28tU9OmB0d</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1126521890724556800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>May 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
He is unlikely to win, but Jesus Angel Garcia deserves a medal just for being on the start line. The Spaniard is 50 in October and continues to record top times regardless of a sixth decade stamped on his passport. What keeps him going if bottled would net the patent holder a fortune. 
Garcia, whose international career began in earnest at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona where he finished tenth, has already clocked 3:57:23 this year. Many half his age who would be delighted to get under 4:00:00 just once. 
Berlin 2018 medallists and reigning champion Linke among the cast for the 20km
By contrast to the long race, the 20km race walk is wide open and there is much similarity of season’s bests among a field of 56. 
Spain’s Alvaro Martin has yet to show the form that saw him triumph at last year’s European Championships following knee surgery in January. Silver medalist Diego Garcia and former world and European champion Miguel Angel Lopez will make Spain hard to beat for team honours. 
Another prospective contender for individual gold could be Massimo Stano from Italy. He walked 2:35:03 for 35km in January and set an eye-catching 38:28.05 clocking over 10,000m in April to shatter his previous best by nearly two minutes.
Stano was just one second away from bronze in Berlin last year and the walker who pipped him at the European Championships lines up in Alytus as well. 
Neutral athlete Vasiliy Mizinov recorded an unratified 1:18:32 in February but a 1:20:14 clocking for victory in Podebrady in April could be a more accurate barometer of his current form. Mizinov is second on the 2019 European list behind Sweden's Perseus Karlstrom who clocked 1:20:05 in February and is unbeaten in six races this year. 
 [INSTAGRAM ID='https://www.instagram.com/p/BxexOxiHFEr/']
No stranger to success in Podebrady is Christoper Linke. The German had to settle for third this time, but the defending European Race Walking Cup champion is again in good shape although he was beaten at the German Championships by Nils Brembach. 
Cheered to the echo will be Marius Ziukas, who at 33, has waited a long time for a share of the limelight. The Lithuanian walked a PB, 1:20:31 in February and then a significant negative split a month later to win in 1:22:29 at Dudince. 
The best of the rest will find Great Britain’s Tom Bosworth and Callum Wilkinson in the lead group with individual and team honours in mind. France’s Gabriel Bordier and Kevin Campion and Italy’s Federico Tontodonati can also expect a top-10 finish. 
Poland has never enjoyed a winner in the U20 10km - but that is surely about to change thanks to Lukasz Niedzialek. 
His 40:23 at home in April was a PB by a massive margin and the 2016 U18 European champion has more than three minutes on his nearest rival in a field of 35. 
Of the chasers, Anton Bildziuha and Pavel Oliohovik from Belarus will duel for a medal but so will rising stars Chris Snook from Great Britain, Italy’s Gabriele Gamba and Turkey’s Selman Ilhan - all of whom have personal bests under 44 minutes.

Yohann Diniz: gold in London

 You can never be sure what you’re going to get with Yohann Diniz which makes the 50km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on

Diniz to return to international competition in the 50km race walk in Alytus

Two years ago in Podebrady there was only one Italian winner but there is a high chance there could be two at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on Sunday (19) which will be streamed live <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=4OiOuy7DnII&app=desktop' target='_blank'>here</a>. 
It will be a surprise if any colour vest but blue spearheads the charge to gold in both the women’s 20km and 50km race walks with defending champion Antonella Palmisano ready to repeat her 2017 win at the shorter distance.
Meanwhile Eleonora Giorgi makes her debut at the 50km, boasting an impressive 2:45:21 for 35km achieved at the end of January. Her splits in that race on home soil suggest she should coast under 4:00 for the whole trip.
Giorgi has had her share of injuries but she secured a 1:31:07 win in Dudince in March, and laid waste to that mark with 1:27:46 last month in Podebrady - the best time in 2019 by a European race walker thus far. 
Palmisano kept her powder dry until the end of April before asking followers to guess her time at the Italian Club Championships over 10,000m and win a prize. The first three who ventured 42:40.9 or close, now wear a brand new sports shirt and betting fans can put theirs on a double for Italy’s finest.
 [INSTAGRAM ID='https://www.instagram.com/p/BxXK552HeSb/']
If there is to be a duel over 20km, the likely chasers will include European champion Maria Perez, who stuck a toe into the 2019 race scene with an easy win at the Spanish Championships in March in 1:30:55 along with Ukraine’s Inna Kashyna.
The latter was seventh in the European Championships but if current form is anything to go by, her 1:29:30 clocking in Rio Maior in April when she timed her late charge to near perfection for second place bodes well for a challenge on the medals in Alytus. 
Neutral athlete Yana Smerdova, 21, should be in the mix as well.
And if there is a pretender to the Palmisano/Giorgi Italian throne - it’s Eleonora Dominici. She had a personal best of 1:38:22 three years ago and has suffered her fair share of disqualifications since then. In March at Cassino, Dominici notched a breakthrough 1:30:35 to put technical issues behind her and shore up what should be a very tough Italian team.
If there is a stronger collective unit: it’s Spain. Perez, Raquel Gonzalez, who has clocked 1:30:17 in 2019 and Laura Garcia-Caro are a good bet for top place on the podium.
But what would really raise the decibel levels in Alytus is a push by the home team and this is by no means beyond the realms of possibility as Lithuania were the surprise package with fourth and fifth in last year’s European Championships.
Although the first of those is now 34, Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene holds the national record with 1:27:59 from the European Championships Berlin and clocked 1:31:25 in February, the ninth fastest time by a European in 2019.
Right behind her in the German capital was Zivile Vaiciukeviciute who set an U23 national record with 1:28.07. Vaiciukeviciute is also one place behind Virbalyte-Dimsiene on the 2019 European list with a season’s best of 1:31:57. 
Zivile’s twin sister Monika augmented a fine team bronze in Podebrady two years ago, and so deja vu beckons with Spain, Italy and Lithuania in that order.
Giorgi poised to make a statement on her 50km race walk debut
The European Race Walking Cup embraces the 50km race walk for women for the first time and an entry list of 30 demonstrates how quickly female athletes have taken to the event. 
It was only two years ago a mere seven lined up for the IAAF World Championships in London - and only four of those finished.
In Alytus, Giorgi should prevail, but many an athlete in the long race has been reduced to the land of the walking dead in the closing stages. 
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Focused 
Mancano 'solo' 10 giorni alla mia prima 50 km. <a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/keepcalmandcarryon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#keepcalmandcarryon</a> <a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/sharetheroad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#sharetheroad</a> 
AleÅ¡ Gräf <a href='https://t.co/Z0PnXDn6qB'>pic.twitter.com/Z0PnXDn6qB</a>
— Eleonora Anna Giorgi (@eleagiorgi) <a href='https://twitter.com/eleagiorgi/status/1126570367982632960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>May 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
Best placed to cash in should the Italian falter is the inaugural world and European champion Ines Henriques from Portugal who broke the fledgling world record in 2017 with 4:05:56 - a mark which now stands at 3:59:15. 
Behind them should be Spain’s Julia Takacs with a lifetime best of 4:13:04 and the Belarusian pair of Nastassia Yatsevich and Nadzeya Darazhuk who have lifetime bests of 4:18:00 and 4:18:01 respectively.
From the longest event on the programme to the shortest, it will be another shock if Turkey’s world U20 10,000m race walk silver medallist Meryem Bekmez doesn’t romp home in the U20 10km in one of her final competitions before she graduates into the senior ranks. 
Her season’s best of 44:25 is only one second behind her PB and more than a minute quicker than next fastest which also happens to be held by a Turkish race walker in Evin Demir.
The third fastest is their teammate Kader Dost. The trio is so far ahead of anyone else on paper, only judges' intervention can surely stop a Turkish team gold as well as all three individual medals.
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 Two years ago in Podebrady there was only one Italian winner but there is a high chance there could be two at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus,

Italians Palmisano and Giorgi poised to challenge for double gold in Alytus

The final entries for the Alytus 2019 European Race Walking Cup on 19 May are now available and can be found under Related Documents and <a href='https://directus.european-athletics.com/public/uploads/european-athletics/originals/7beb2469-ec02-4933-b23f-142421f10f92.pdf' target='_blank'>here</a>.
A total of 256 athletes - 139 men and 117 women - from 29 countries (including Authorised Neutral Athletes) have been registered for this year’s edition which is the first to achieve full parity. The programme includes a women’s 50km race walk for the first time and it features reigning world and European champion and ex-world record-holder Ines Henriques from Portugal.
Henriques has been one of the pioneers in the nascent history of the event but the standards are improving rapidly - the world record now stands at 3:59:15 - with more race walkers attempting the distance.
One notable debutante in Alytus will be Italy’s Eleonora Giorgi who has prepared for an assault on the distance by taking part in a 35km race walk event in January, covering the distance in 2:45:21. She then sharpened up for Alytus with a commanding victory in the 20km race walk in Podebrady where she broke the tape in a European-leading time of 1:27:46.
Despite Giorgi's absence, there will still be high hopes for Italy in the women’s 20km race walk as Antonella Palmisano defends her title. Palmisano won by nearly two minutes at the 2017 European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady but Spain’s Maria Perez will be keen to add this accolade to her European title from the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.
The men’s 20km race walk is arguably the highest quality event on the programme with the top eight from Berlin 2018 - including the Spanish triumvirate of Alvaro Martin, Diego Garcia and Miguel Angel Lopez - all on the start-line along with reigning champion Christopher Linke from Germany.
Ukraine’s Ivan Banzeruk will also be defending his individual title and team honours in the men’s 50km race walk although their collective prospects are weakened by the absence of Berlin 2018 champion Maryan Zakalnytskyy.
And his individual prospects will be put to the test by world record-holder Yohann Diniz from France who will contest the distance for the first time since winning the IAAF World Championships in London nearly two years ago. Diniz missed out on a chance of winning a fourth successive European title in Berlin due to injury but the 41-year-old will return to international action next weekend.
And a special mention goes to Spain’s Jesus Angel Garcia, eight years the Frenchman’s senior at 49 years old. Garcia won the inaugural European Race Walking Cup title in 1996 and has qualified for yet another Spanish team by virtue of a third-place finish at his domestic championships.

Some 256 athletes have been registered for the 2019 European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May

 The final entries for the Alytus 2019 European Race Walking Cup on 19 May are now available and can be found under Related Documents and here. A total of 256

Final entries for the 2019 European Race Walking Cup now available

The European Race Walking Cup will take place in Alytus, Lithuania a week on Sunday and the message from this weekend is clear: beware of the Spaniards with a penchant for gold medals.
It might have been over shorter distances than the 20km over which they will compete on 19 May but European champions Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez showed that winning can become a habit as they triumphed at the Spanish University Championships in Castellon.
Martin won the 10,000m race walk in 39.34.4 from Diego Garcia in 39:37.1 – the same one-two as in Berlin last summer – with Jose Manuel Perez third in 40:28.2. 
Meanwhile, Perez took the women’s 5000m race walk title in a world leading time of 20:52.76 from Raquel Gonzalez in 21:07.54 and Marina Pena in 23:02.68.
In the 20km race walk in Berlin last summer, Martin and Perez were Spain’s two gold medallist at the European Championships and they will be looking to make a major impact again as the country defends team titles in both races in Alytus. 
Two years ago in Podebrady, Martin was 31st and the fourth Spanish finisher home in 1:25:53. The first three counted with his teammate Miguel Angel Lopez second in 1:20:21 behind Germany’s Christopher Linke (1:19:28) with Garcia seventh in 1:21:56 to take the team gold with 30 points from Germany with 35. 
In the women’s race, Perez was sixth in 1:30:52 - and was the second Spanish finisher home - with Laura Garcia-Caro taking individual bronze in 1:29:57 and Lidia Sanchez-Puebia ninth in 1:32:09. 
The women’s team replicated the achievement of their male counterparts by taking team gold with 18 points, 16 clear of Italy in second and both Spanish teams look in good shape to defend their titles as a collective in Alytus later this month. 
Mazuronak eases to victory in the Trieste Half Marathon 
It was quite a weekend for reigning European champions and another who was celebrating victory was European marathon gold medallist Volha Mazuronak from Belarus.
Her victory last summer came as she had to battle through with a nose bleed to triumph and this time she was victorious in the Trieste Half Marathon in 73:56, beating Burundi's Cavaline Nahimana by four seconds. 
On a memorable weekend for Israeli athletics which was capped by Lonah Chemtai Salpeter’s sub-2:20 performance in the Prague Marathon and Girmaw Amare’s national record in the men’s race, there was also a landmark performance at home by Maru Teferi. 
The men’s 10km record of 28:55 had been shared by Dov Kremer (from 1991) and Ayele Seteng (from 1995) but now the record is in the hands of Teferi. His marathon record might have been eclipsed by Amare in the Czech capital but Teferi ran into the record books with a 28:33 clocking for victory in Herzliya.
Haimro Alame was also inside the previous mark with a runner-up finish in 28:36 while Selamawit Dagnachew made it a home double by winning the women’s race in 32:19. 
There was double European success at the Mainz Marathon as Poland’s Andrzej Rogiewicz won the men’s race in 2:21:24 and Lithuania's Remalda Kergyte-Dauskudiene took the women’s title in 2:41:39. 
Spain celebrated a home win at the 35th edition of Milla Sagrada Familia in Barcelona on Sunday with Esther Guerrero first in the women’s race in 4:51 and Britain’s Spencer Thomas the men’s champion in 4:16.
And at the Great Bristol 10km, there was double home glory with Chris Thompson winning the men’s race in 29:35 and Kate Reed triumphant in the women’s race in 33:11. 
Good throwing from Jasiunaite and Matusevicius in Palanga
The summer season is back in full swing and at the Lithuanian Throwing Championships in Palanga on Saturday, European javelin bronze medallist Liveta Jasiunaite improved her lifetime best to 61.73m. Edis Matusevicius won the men’s javelin with a European-leading mark of 82.73m. 
At the French Clubs Leagues, Quentin Bigot achieved a fine 77.21m in the hammer in Tomblaine while in Venissieux, Melina Robert-Michon, the Olympic silver medallist, won the discus with 59.51m.
Bulgaria’s Valentin Andreev is preparing for the Boras 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships in July and the 17-year-old, who won a silver medal in the hammer at the European U18 Championships last year, went out to 82.72m with the five kilogram implement at home in Balchik.
Andreev will throw with the six kilogram implement in Boras where he will cross paths again with Ukraine’s Myhaylo Kokhan who won both the European U18 Championships and Youth Olympic Games last year. 
There was also a notable lifetime best for Jodie Williams who clocked 11.17 in the 100m in Lubbock in Texas, improving her eight-year-old lifetime best of 11.18 which she set to win the 100m title at the 2011 European U20 Championships. Williams also sped to a wind-assisted 22.46 to win the 200m.
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Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez warmed up for the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May with victories on the track at the Spanish University Championships

Maria Perez and Alvaro Martin

 The European Race Walking Cup will take place in Alytus, Lithuania a week on Sunday and the message from this weekend is clear: beware of the Spaniards with a

Martin and Perez prepare for Alytus with victories in Castellon

Reigning European 50km race walk champion Ines Henriques will head the Portuguese team going to the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May.
Henriques, who also holds the European record with 4:05:56 set when she won the inaugural world title in London two years ago, will start as the gold medal favourite for the first ever women’s Cup race over 50km
However, the 39-year-old will be looking for better fortune than her outing at the last Cup in 2017 when she was disqualified in the 20km event. Nevertheless, Alytus will be Herniques’ 12th appearance in the European Race Walking Cup having competed in every single edition since it was inaugurated in 1996 apart from the first one in the Spanish city of La Coruna.
 Curiously, Henriques has yet to win an individual Cup medal with her best finish being seventh in 2007 – although she helped Portugal’s women team gold in 205, silver in 2013 and bronze in 2015 – however, her Alytus team mate Ana Cabecinha knows the feeling of standing on the podium having taken the 20km silver medal two years ago in Podebrady, Czech Republic.
The Portuguese team includes the evergreen 43-year-old Joao Vieira, who will contest the men’s 50km. The two-time European Athletics Championships 20km race walk medallist has competed in all 13 editions of the Cup with a best finish of fourth in the 2003 20km.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
<a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/atletica?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#atletica</a> 22 convocati azzurri per la Coppa Europa di <a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/marcia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#marcia</a> a <a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/Alytus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#Alytus</a> di domenica 19 maggio. <a href='https://twitter.com/Nelly_Palmisano?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>@Nelly_Palmisano</a> e <a href='https://twitter.com/MassimoStano?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>@MassimoStano</a> nella 20 km, prima volta nella 50 km per <a href='https://twitter.com/eleagiorgi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>@eleagiorgi</a> 
LEGGI Ã¢&#150;Â¶<a href='https://t.co/Jhm34nT44P'>https://t.co/Jhm34nT44P</a> <a href='https://t.co/SzPFb5eEFV'>pic.twitter.com/SzPFb5eEFV</a>
— Atletica Italiana (@atleticaitalia) <a href='https://twitter.com/atleticaitalia/status/1123249156661948423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>April 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
In Alytus, Ana Cabecinha will be reunited on the start line with the winner in Podebrady, Antonella Palmisano, after the latter was named as part of 22-strong Italian team for the Cup earlier this week.
Palmisano, who also won bronze medals at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 and in Berlin over 20km, will be bidding to become only the second woman to retain a European Race Walking Cup title.
She will have accompanying her in the 20km Valentina Trapletti, eighth in Podebrady, and Eleonora Dominici which will make Italy strong contenders for team medals again after having taken the silver in 2015 and 2017.
Europe’s fastest woman over 20km last year, Eleonora Giorgi, will step up and make her debut over the 50km distance in Alytus.
“We have a mix of experience and youth. From the near veteran Marco De Luca to the school student Gabriele Gamba but I have three tips: Stano (Massimo Stano, third at last year’s IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships last year), Palmisano and Giorgi. Massimo wants to impress in Alytus not only to secure selection for the Doha World Championships but because he has become a man that his rivals are looking out for,” said the Italian federation technical director Antonio La Torre on the announcement of the team.

Portugal's Ines Henriques won the inaugural staging of the women's 50km race walk at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships

Ines Henriques

 Reigning European 50km race walk champion Ines Henriques will head the Portuguese team going to the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May.

Berlin 2018 champion Ines Henriques to compete in European Race Walking Cup

Germany will be sending a team of 17 athletes to compete at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May.
Germany won six medals at the 2017 European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady where Christopher Linke won the 20km race walk title in 1:19:28 to win by nearly one minute ahead of defending champion Miguel Angel Lopez from Spain. Linke also won the annual race walking event in Alytus last year in 1:21:10 which might stand him in good stead ahead of his title defence next month.
Linke also led the Germans to team silver and he will be looking to come away from Alytus with medals from both the individual and team race. He is third on the 2019 European list with a time of 1:20:33 behind Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom (1:20:05) and neutral athlete Vasiliy Mizinov (1:20:14) but he was beaten at the recent German Championships by Nils Brembach - 1:20:48 to 1:21:32.
Joining Linke and Brembach on the German team for Podebrady are European eighth-placer Hagen Pohle and youngster Leo Kopp who won the U20 10km race walk title in Podebrady two years ago.
Their team for the women’s 20km race walk includes national champion Saskia Feige, who is sixth on the 2019 European list with a national U23 record of 1:30:40, while 20-year-old Teresa Zurek makes her senior debut in this competition after winning bronze in the U20 10km race walk in 2017.
European fifth-placer Carl Dohmann leads the German 50km race walk team in the men’s race while Bianca-Maria Dittrich will contest the first ever edition of the women’s 50km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup.

 Germany will be sending a team of 17 athletes to compete at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May. Germany won six medals at the 2017

Reigning champion Linke spearheads German team for European Race Walking Cup

Ukraine has named a team of 22 athletes for the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May including Ivan Banzeruk in the men’s 50km race walk.
Banzeruk won the 50km race walk title in warm conditions in Podebrady two years ago in 3:48:15. He also led Ukraine to the team title although their chances of retaining that title might be weakened due to the absence of reigning European champion Maryan Zakalnytskyy.
Ukraine is still fielding a team of four race walkers for the 50km race walk and Banzeruk will be accompanied by Valeriy Litanyuk who finished 15th at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in Taicang, China last May.
There will also be medal prospects both individually and as a collective on the women’s side as well. Inna Kashyna finished fourth individually and in the team race in the 20km race walk two years ago and the 27-year-old is second on the 2019 European list with 1:29:30.
Kashnya’s chances are further embellished by the fact European leader Eleonora Giorgi from Italy is stepping up in distance to contest the 50km race walk in Alytus.
The 50km race walk makes its debut for women in Alytus and the Ukrainians will be sending a quartet including Kristina Yudkina who finished fourth at the European Championships last year.
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Ivan Banzeruk will be part of the Ukrainian team for the 50km race walk at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May

Ivan Banzeruk

 Ukraine has named a team of 22 athletes for the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May including Ivan Banzeruk in the men’s 50km race walk.

Banzeruk to defend 50km race walk title at European Race Walking Cup

With the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania less than a month away, Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom maintained his unbeaten start to the season with a notable victory in Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico on Sunday (21).
Karlstrom won the 20km race walk title at the fifth leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in 1:23:40 to become the first ever European winner in the 17 year history of the race.
Times were of a secondary importance on a hot and humid day but Karlstrom took some notable scalps on the road to Alytus, defeating reigning European silver medallist Diego Garcia from Spain into second place again by nineteen seconds.
Karlstrom also had the beating of two Olympic medallists in Lazaro Cardenas. Guatemala’s 2012 Olympic silver medallist Erick Barrondo was fifth in 1:24:46 with 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Dane Bird-Smith from Australia sixth in 1:25:01.
“World Cup champion in Mexico! Unbelievable feeling crossing the line first after an extremely tough race. Hot and humid battle that ended in the first European victory ever in the 17 year long history of the the Mexican leg in the World Cup!” said a triumphant Karlstrom on his Instagram account.
 [INSTAGRAM ID='https://www.instagram.com/p/BwiK91mnDZ2/']
Karlstrom has a season’s best more than three minutes in excess of his winning time in Lazaro Cardenas - he leads the 2019 European list with 1:20:05 which was set in Adelaide in February - but the Swede showed impressive closing speed, covering the penultimate two kilometre circuit in 7:43 and the final circuit in under eight minutes as well.
After finishing eighth in 2015, Karlstrom made the podium with a bronze medal at the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady two years ago and on current form, the 28-year-old will be targeting a medal of a different hue in Alytus on 19 May.
His principal rivals next month will include a full strength Spanish team including Garcia, reigning European champion Alvaro Martin and former world and European champion Miguel Angel Lopez, and Authorised Neutral Athlete Vasiliy Mizinov.
In the women’s race, reigning European champion Maria Perez from Spain was the leading European finisher in third in 1:31:11, one place and nine seconds ahead of Portugal’s Ana Cabecinha.

Sweden's Perseus Karlstrom was a comprehensive winner of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Rio Maior on Sunday

Perseus Karlstrom

 With the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania less than a month away, Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom maintained his unbeaten start to the season with a

Karlstrom maintains unbeaten start to the season with victory in Lazaro Cardenas

Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez made it a Spanish double in the 20km race walk at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships and they will be in contention to repeat at the European Race Walking Cup in Altyus, Lithuania on 19 May.
Martin won the men’s race by six seconds last August in 1:20:42 while Perez triumphed in the women’s race by 27 seconds, setting a championship record of 1:26:36 on the Breitscheidplatz.
A knee operation in January interrupted Martin’s start of the season and the strength of the opposition will make this race a real test, not least from his fellow Spaniards.
Martin is joined on the start line by teammate Diego Garcia, who was second behind him in Berlin, and Miguel Angel Lopez, who won a highly competitive race at the Spanish Championships.
He might have been sixth in Berlin behind his two compatriots but Lopez was the 2014 European champion and the 2015 world champion at this distance. He also won this title in his hometown of Murcia four years ago before finishing runner-up to Germany’s Christophe Linke in Podebrady two years ago.
Linke, too, will be one of the favourites to retain his crown – which would be a first for the men at this distance – but perhaps the biggest threat to the Spaniards comes in the shape of Authorised Neutral Athlete Vasily Mizinov.
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He was third in Berlin but showed immense power to win the European Athletics Permit meeting in Podebrady at the start of April, beating Linke and others in the process.
The British pair of Callum Wilkinson, who produced a British U23 record of 1:21:34 in Podebrady, and Olympic sixth-placer Tom Bosworth will also be in the mix for individual and team medals.
It is the first time that Lithuania has hosted this event which took place for the first time in La Coruna, Spain in 1996 when household names such as Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski and Spain’s Jesus Angel Garcia were among the winners.
In Alytus, Marius Ziukas will be their big hope in the men’s 20km race walk while in the women’s event, Brigita Virbalyte-Dimsiene and twins Zivile and Monika Vaiciukeviciute will be looking to make an impression but can they stop Perez?
She showed her desire for more titles when she was crowned Spanish champion in Oropesa del Mar in March, winning in 1:30:55. That puts her sixth in this year’s list which are topped by Italy’s Eleonora Giorgi who won in Podebrady in 1:27:46 by nearly three minutes.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Eleonora Giorgi set her fastest time in four years to win the 20km race walk in Podebrady in 1:27:46. 
: <a href='https://t.co/SNSNtkgEUc'>https://t.co/SNSNtkgEUc</a> <a href='https://t.co/lgE5KZIDyV'>pic.twitter.com/lgE5KZIDyV</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/1114606779416162305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>April 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
Giorgi, however, will be stepping up in distance to contest the women’s 50km race walk which makes its debut on the programme next month. Reigning world and European champion Ines Henriques from Portugal could toe the start-line in Alytus while European bronze medallist Julia Takacs has been named on the Spanish team.
Ukraine dominated the men’s 50km race walk two years ago, taking first and second individually courtesy of Ivan Banzeruk (3:48:15) and Ihor Hlavan (3:48:38) as well as the team title. The 2019 European list is currently headed by Norway’s Havard Haukenes who won the Dudince 50km in a lifetime best of 3:42:50.
The 50km race walk races will start off the action at 8:00am local time, with the women’s U20 10km an hour later, the men’s 10km U20 at 10:30am before the men’s 20km (2:30pm) and the women’s 20km (4:30pm).
<div> </div>

A strong Spanish contingent will be in action at the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May

Race walking general 

 Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez made it a Spanish double in the 20km race walk at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships and they will be in contention

One month to go - European Race Walking Cup

Great Britain will be represented by eight race walkers at this year’s edition of the European Race Walking Cup which takes place in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May.
The British team will be fielding a team of four athletes in the 20km race walk including national record-holder and Olympic sixth-placer Tom Bosworth who will be making his sixth appearance at the European Race Walking Cup. Bosworth just missed out on a medal in Podebrady two years ago but his fourth-place finish represented the best ever finish by a Brit in championship history.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Very proud to make the team for this competition, for the 6th time! it was my debut in a GB kit 10years ago. 
I remember thinking I’d be lucky to make another GB team again! 
Two years ago I finished 4th, with the men’s 20k team also finishing 4th... this time around! <a href='https://t.co/JLDIuqIpXc'>https://t.co/JLDIuqIpXc</a>
— Tom Bosworth (@TomBosworth) <a href='https://twitter.com/TomBosworth/status/1115593065564008448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>April 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
The Brits also just missed out on a team medal in the 20km race walk but they could make another push for the podium as a collective in Alytus. The most in-form of the quartet is 2016 world U20 10,000m race walk champion Callum Wilkinson who moved to second on the British all-time list with a British U23 record of 1:21:34 in Podebrady on Saturday when he finished sixth.
They are joined by Cameron Corbishley who set a British U23 record in the 50km race walk of 3:53:20 to move to second on the British all-time list in Podebrady and two-time Olympian in the 50km race walk Dominic King.
On the women’s side, Bethan Davies and Heather Lewis will be joined by newcomer to the British team Erika Kelly while Christopher Snook is the sole U20 representative in the 10km race walk. 
 
<div> </div>

Cameron Corbishley, Tom Bosworth and Callum Wilkinson have all been included in the British team for the European Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May

British team for Alytus

 Great Britain will be represented by eight race walkers at this year’s edition of the European Race Walking Cup which takes place in Alytus, Lithuania on 19

Eight British athletes confirmed for European Race Walking Cup

Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships 20km race walk gold medallists Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez will head a very strong Spanish team that will contest the European Athletics Race Walking Cup in Alytus, Lithuania on 19 May.
Martin, now 24, had his first outing since his triumph in the German capital in the Spanish championships last weekend but could only finish seventh in the wake of surgery on his left knee in January.
“The doctors haven’t completely signed off on me yet but I’ve had three weeks training without any problems and I’m gradually building up to do well later in the year at the big international meetings,” commented Martin last weekend.
He will be joined on the start line of the men’s 20km in Alytus by Berlin 2018 silver medallist Diego Garcia and former European and world champion Miguel Angel Lopez, who also won the Cup race in 2015 and took silver in 2013 and 2017.
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Esta es la Selección Española que competirá en la próxima Copa de Europa de marcha de Alytus (19 mayo)<a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pasi%C3%83%C2%83%C3%82%C2%B3nPorCompetir?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>#PasiónPorCompetir</a> 
Ã¢&#158;Â¡ <a href='https://t.co/txs1vRLofF'>https://t.co/txs1vRLofF</a> <a href='https://t.co/InAhYRyVNz'>pic.twitter.com/InAhYRyVNz</a>
— atletismoRFEA (@atletismoRFEA) <a href='https://twitter.com/atletismoRFEA/status/1108725015581736962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw'>March 21, 2019</a></blockquote>

Lopez, who was sixth in Berlin, was an impressive winner of the Spanish title in Oropesa del Mar on Sunday, winning in 1:21:21 and crossing the line exactly two minutes ahead of second-placed Garcia.
With the 20km quartet completed by Alberto Amezcua, Spain will be favourites to defend their Cup team title in this category that they won two years ago in the Czech town of Podebrady. 
In the women’s 20km event, the 22-year-old Perez – who, like Lopez, also won the Spanish title last weekend – will have among her team mates Laura GarcÃ­a-Caro, who was third in the last edition of the Cup two years ago and sixth in Berlin, as well as Lidia Sánchez-Puebla and Spanish 50km record holder Raquel González.
 [PHOTO src='1286400' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
“I’m not at my top level yet, maybe 80%, but I can feel the spark is there,” reflected Perez after winning her second domestic crown, crossing the line in 1:30:55 and winning by 45 seconds from Gonzalez. 
The names in the men’s 50km include the evergreen 49-year-old former world champion Jesus Angel Garcia Bragado who is a three-time winner in the Cup (1996, 2000 and 2001) and who also has two silver medals to his name.
BenjamÃ­n Sanchez, José Ignacio Diaz and the reigning national champion Marc Tur complete the Spanish quartet in the men’s 50km. 
In the women’s 50km, the event making its debut in the Cup, Berlin 2018 bronze medallist Julia Takacs heads the Spanish team with Ainhoa Ã¢&#128;&#139;Ã¢&#128;&#139;Pinedo, Maria Larios and Mar Juarez accompanying her.

Alvaro Martin led a one-two for Spain in the 20km race walk at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships

Alvaro Martin

 Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships 20km race walk gold medallists Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez will head a very strong Spanish team that will

European champions Martin and Perez head strong Spanish team for Alytus

Antonella Palmisano, Christopher Linke and Ivan Banzeruk took the three senior individual gold medals at the 12th edition of the European Race Walking Cup held in the Czech spa town and race walking mecca of PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady on Sunday (21).
Senior women’s 20km
The seemingly foregone conclusion that Antonella Palmisano would dominate in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady proved sound. Dominate she did.
In the lead almost from the gun, the Italian piled it on and at halfway she was already 27 seconds ahead of a chasing group of four.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games fourth-place finisher but this was her first senior title after first coming to prominence at the 2010 IAAF World Cup when she came out of the blue to lift the U20 title in Mexico.
Easy to spot thanks to wearing long blue compression socks, the 25-year-old was lapping backmarkers before the fourth 1km lap, and after missing the 27-year-old 10km world record by a single second last month, she must be considered a medal contender at the IAAF World Championships in London this coming August.
 [PHOTO src='1281262' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
Her personal best of 1:27:51 was also in danger coming up to the last 50 metres but she darted over to the side of the course, clutched at a supporter’s Italian flag with ‘Forza Antonella’ on it, dropped it, picked it up and strolled to the line to finishing in 1:27:57, missing her best by six seconds.
Palmisano looked surprised when told she had missed out on a personal best time but quickly recovered to say it was “unimportant.”
'What mattered,” she added, “was having the flag in my hand to win my first major senior race.”
A long way behind, with Palmisano hitting the halfway mark in 44:23, Portugal looked strong with both Ana Cabecinha and Ines Henriques in contention for medals as the quartet of chasers passed 10km in 44:50. 
However, the latter’s dream was dashed just shy of the 15km mark when she incurred the judges’ displeasure and was shown the dreaded red disc.
This left Cabecinha and race surprise Laura Garcia-Caro from Spain in the frame for silver and bronze.
The Portuguese walker dug on vast reserves and experience to edge ahead and take second in 1:29:44 with Garcia-Caro third in 1:29:57 but the Spaniard stood on the top of the podium a little later as she lead home Spain to team gold with all three of their scorers inside the top 10.
Senior men’s 20km 
Christopher Linke just loves PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady.
Three first places and a second on this course in the last two years suggests the German finds this circuit a home from home.
The only problem the 1.90m-tall walker encountered en route to gold was ducking under a sponsor’s sign every lap, which was otherwise too high for everyone else to reach.
No one got close to the 28-year-old once he broke away eight kilometres into the race and he prised open the gap to form a chasm before winning in 1:19:28.
“I have one of the best coaches in the world in Ronald Weigel (former world champion). It is a great motivation and there is a saying which says that when you train with the best you learn to win,” reflected Linke.
'I love it here in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady even though it has been a hard year. After 10k, I went at my own pace and I really enjoyed it. I truly feel this is my time to shine,” he added.
Behind him, the race for the other two places on the podium became a drawn out affair between France’s Kevin Campion, back to form, reigning world and European champion Miguel Angel Lopez and Perseus Karlstrom from Sweden.
After a disappointing and injury-marred 2016, Lopez injected the speed needed to get away from his pursuers at 17 kilometres to claim the silver in 1:20:21.
The chief judge’s disqualification disc decided bronze when Campion was removed with a third warning, handing the bronze to the Swede in 1:20:40.
 [PHOTO src='1281265' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'].
Great Britain’s high-rated Tom Bosworth struggled to ignore a hip injury, but fourth in 1:21:21 was a decent return as he builds for the world championships on home soil in a few months’ time.
Like in the women’s 20km, Spain took the team title with Linke’s win helping Germany get the silver medals.
Senior men’s 50km
The long race went to form with Ivan Banzeruk playing the waiting game and then striking at 38 kilometres into the race to establish what was to become an unassailable lead.
The Ukrainian came into the race with a 3:44:49 best and, in the end, his pedigree paid off as he won in 3:48:15.
By holding back, the 27-year-old finished strongest while team-mate Ihor Hlavan upped the pace in the closing stages to take a deserved silver medal 23 seconds in arrears of his compatriot.
Bronze went to an Italian, but not the one who led the race for 23 kilometres.
Michele Antonelli was close to four minutes behind early leader Teodorico Caporaso – who went through 20km in 1:33:00 and at one point has nearly a two-minute advantage over the rest of the field – but came through, despite two cards against him before the halfway point, to take third place in a personal best of 3:49:07.
 [PHOTO src='1281266' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
Banzeruk and Hlavan were followed home by their compatriot Maryan Zakolnytskyy in sixth place to give Ukraine the team title with Italy in second place and Spain third.
U20 men’s 10km 
Leo Kopp proved that success in April’s annual race walking extravaganza in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady was no flash in the pan.
The German, 19 on Tuesday, awarded himself an early birthday gift with a second personal best around the park course and in much the same way as he posted his first at the European Athletics Permit Meeting.
Biding his time after a group of four had gone through 5km in 20:43, Kopp streaked ahead in the last two kilometres to come home in 41:08, finishing 11 seconds ahead of Mikita Kiliada from Belarus.
Poland’s Lukasz Niedzialek was third in 41:28, all three men on the podium and seven of the top eight achieving personal bests.
Belarus just edged out France for the team gold medals, with Ukraine taking third.
U20 women’s 10km 
Russia’s Yana Smerdova – racing as an Authorised Neutral Athlete –looked as if she was about to breakaway on the eighth lap out of 10 but, when she heard the bell, she changed gear so fast it was clear the 19-year-old had been coasting until that point.
A 10-metre lead became 50 metres in less than two minutes as the black-vested athlete headed for the finish line before winning in 46:39.
Behind her, Germany’s Teresa Zurek was hoping to repeat her April win in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady while Turkey’s Meryem Bekmez was just hoping to get to the finish this time.
Bekmez, still only 16 and the European U18 champion last year, had recorded a 5km personal best in the previous race but was then disqualified after crossing the line.
The Turk had an eye on the board in this race too after picking up one card but the 16 was able to outsprint Zurek over the last 100 metres to claim a deserved silver in 46:48 with the German three seconds further back.
In the final race of the day, Spain took its third team title in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady with Greece second and Germany third.

 Antonella Palmisano, Christopher Linke and Ivan Banzeruk took the three senior individual gold medals at the 12th edition of the European Race Walking Cup held

Palmisano, Linke and Banzeruk take the honours in Poděbrady

Live streaming and results will be available for the European Race Walking Cup PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady 2017 on Sunday (21).
The event will be streamed <a href='http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10183677624-sportovni-beh-a-chuze/217254000170001-ep-druzstev-v-chuzi/' target='_blank'>here</a> with coverage beginning at 0800 local time (CET) with the men’s 50km walk and concluding with the women’s U20 10km walk at 1800 CET. 
All five races will be streamed via a local broadcaster and available worldwide without any restrictions or geo-blocking.
Results after the conclusion of each event will also be available <a target='_blank' href='https://www.podebrady2017.com/en/start-lists-results'>here</a>.
According to the final entries, a total of 226 athletes from 26 countries - and including two Authorised Neutral Athletes - have been entered for the event in the historic Czech Republic spa town, situated around 50km to the east of Prague.
Further information including complete entry lists, timetable and post-event coverage are available from the European Athletics website <a href='http://www.european-athletics.org/competitions/european-race-walking-cup/' target='_blank'>here</a>. 
<blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'>
Live streaming details for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on Sunday. 
⬇<a href='https://t.co/H2gvvDHO4O'>https://t.co/H2gvvDHO4O</a> <a href='https://t.co/P4XSIbzSzp'>pic.twitter.com/P4XSIbzSzp</a>
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) <a href='https://twitter.com/EuroAthletics/status/864775627089612800'>May 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
Leading entrants for the biannual competition include reigning world and European 20km race walk champion Miguel Angel Lopez from Spain, who will be looking to retain the title he won in his hometown of Murcia in 2015. Olympic fourth-placer Antonella Palmisano from Italy will contend for individual and team honours in the women’s 20km.

Spain&rsquo;s Miguel Angel Lopez is entered to compete at the upcoming European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May.

Lopez back to defend his European crown

 Live streaming and results will be available for the European Race Walking Cup PodÄ&#155;brady 2017 on Sunday (21). The event will be streamed here with

Live streaming and results available for European Race Walking Cup

Plenty are headed back to the town 50km east of Prague for the second time in just over a month to compete on the same park course in the European Race Walking Cup on Sunday. 
The European Athletics Permit Meeting on 8 April acted as a useful warm-up – for athletes and organisers alike – and on a fast 1km-loop there’s a fair chance those who did well will repeat the feat.
On the team front, Ukraine have pedigree and experience all round but other walking powers are generally looking to the next generation with a host of first timers at a major competition.
Spain and Italy will account for more than a fifth of the 243 athletes on the final entry lists but, for example, the Spanish 20km women’s team has Julia Tacacs as the only established walker in a red and yellow vest.
Likewise, Italy has included former European Cup winner Giorgio Rubino for the men's 20km, but that was eight years ago in Metz.
Saying that, on current form, compatriot Antonella Palmisano should be a distant blue speck to the rest in the women’s 20km by the finish.
A sharp 41:57.29 for 10,000m back home in Orvieto towards the end of last month suggests the former IAAF World Cup U20 winner is in good shape to back up her excellent fourth place at the Rio 2016 Olympics Games and has a 1:27:51 personal best from 2014 to her name.
 [PHOTO src='1279234' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
But, if there are to be a challengers, then Portugal, Ukraine and, perhaps surprisingly, Lithuania are the likely bets. 
With little walking success as such, the Baltic state now has three who can challenge for team honours, and two of them literally form a twin spearhead.
ÅÂ½ivilé and Monika VaiciukevičiÅÂ«té, both born April 3 1996, finished third and fifth in the April Podebrady meeting and both posted personal bests. 
Supported up by Brigita Virbalytė-DimÅ¡ienė and her second place in February at the Adelaide IAAF Challenge race only 33 seconds outside her top seven placing in the 2015 World Cup, a country of under three million could be about to make a senior team podium for the first time.
Ines Henriques and Ana Cabecinha rarely disappoint for Portugal and the Ukraine quartet headed by Nadiya Borovska could be up there, at least in the early stages.
In the men’s 20km, Great Britain’s Tom Bosworth has been hard at work at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he has been building endurance to go with his prodigious speed and also notched a comfortable 1:20:58 in Portugal at the beginning of April, having also finished sixth atb this distance in Rio.
If form again has anything to do with it, Christopher Linke and Kevin Campion will probably be Bosworth’s shadows.
Linke removed 20 seconds from his personal best to breeze home in a fast 1:18:59 in the April Podebrady meeting, his first race of the year, and the German has also been to Flagstaff.

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France’s Campion has also returned to form after a disappointing 49th in Rio and has improved to, 1:20:28. 
Spain’s Alvaro Martin and Miguel Angel Lopez, the latter the 2014 European and 2015 world champion, will add to the clamour at the front while Ukraine again also have a strong quartet.
For the first time at a major race walk championships, the words ‘Authorised Neutral Athlete’ gets added to a name on the start list.
Sergei Shirobokov is the one Russian cleared to compete in the 20km, and after an unratified 1:18:26 in his Winter Championships in Sochi in February, can boast of the fastest time this year. 
However, Shirobokov can point to previous success to back up his fast time.
Now 18, he was the boy’s 10,000m winner at the 2015 IAAF U18 Championships, and although something of a dark horse, that background could see him easily gallop up on the inside in the final straight.
The men’s 50km starts the weekend and, as is usually the case with the long one, there are only three in the 32 field who have completed the distance so far this year. 
Once again, Ukraine has good depth with Ihor Hlavan having a 3:40:39 best while Ivan Banzeruk was fifth in the 2014 European Championships.
Finland's Aleksi Ojala sports an impressive 3:46:25 best from last year, but after those three, it will need an unknown to upset the odds.
The U20 races could be Sunday's highlight. 
As said, this town with its terrific walking history – which dates back to the late 19th century – already put on a fine show in April. 
Men’s U20 star then was Germany’s Leo Kopp, who is returning to the scene of his win where he set a 10km best of 41:19 after a dazzling turn of speed in the last kilometre to win from David Kuster, who finished 11 seconds back for France.
Å&#129;ukasz NiedziaÅ&#130;ek was third for Poland, Justin Bournier, France, was fourth, and all four are back to do battle again.

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Turkey will fancy its chances with Abdulaziz DaniÅ&#159; and Abdulselum Imuk rewriting their personal nest marks in February, as will Giacomo Brandi, who has a 41:44 best from Podebrady last year. 
If Great Britain’s Chris Snook needs further advice after his personal best in seventh place on the same course in April, his mother Verity should prove to be a good mentor.
Not only is she a British team coach and in attendance, but she herself competed on the same course 20 years ago in what was then the IAAF World Cup.
Turkey are team favourites to lift the women’s U20 10km title although form suggests Germany’s Teresa Zurek will contest the individual title. 
Her 45:09 in Naumberg less than a month ago is not far behind the mark set by Turkey’s Meryem Bekmez on home soil in February. 
Others potentially in contention for the podium are Turkey’s Ayse Tekdal and the second ANA (Authorised Neutral Athlete) of the weekend, Yana Smerdova. A 45:48 best suggests she too could provide a surprise, like Shirobokov in the men’s 20km.
Live streaming of the European Race Walking Cup is available <a href='http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10183677624-sportovni-beh-a-chuze/217254000170001-ep-druzstev-v-chuzi/'>here</a>.

race walkers

 Plenty are headed back to the town 50km east of Prague for the second time in just over a month to compete on the same park course in the European Race Walking

Podebrady is fast becoming a home from home for Europe’s finest race walkers

Ines Henriques will be contesting her ninth successive edition of the European Race Walking Cup on Sunday as a senior competitor but she will be lining up as a world record-holder for the first time in Podebrady
At the start of the season, the vastly experienced Portuguese race walker made history by becoming the first official world record-holder in the 50km walk. Henriques stopped the clock at 4:08:26 in Leiria - passing through 20km in 1:37:57 en route - to eclipse the previous world best by more than two minutes. 
 
“We achieved the goals we were looking for which were to be the first Portuguese woman to race the distance and to set a world record,” said her coach Jorge Miguel after her groundbreaking performance.
Henriques has since turned her focus back to the 20km walk and in her last race, the 37-year-old showed she is rounding into form by clocked a season’s best of 1:32:15 at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge event on home soil in Rio Maior. She finished fourth in that race and just one place behind her teammate Ana Cabecinha, who has also been named on the team for Podebrady.
Henriques is yet to claim an individual medal at the European Race Walking Cup but she has been a reliable performer in the team competition. She was part of the gold medal-winning team all the way back in 2005 and helped Portugal to a silver medal in Dudince in 2013 and a bronze medal in Murcia in 2015.

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Ines Henriques made a sensational debut at the 50km walk with victory in 4:08:25. Henriques has entered a new record book after the IAAF&rsquo;s last Council meeting announced that from January 1 performances equal to or faster than 4:30:00 will be accepted as having fulfilled the conditions for a world record.

Henriques and Arneton on top of world

 Ines Henriques will be contesting her ninth successive edition of the European Race Walking Cup on Sunday as a senior competitor but she will be lining up as a

Record-breaker Henriques to make ninth successive appearance in Poděbrady 

Slovakia have an outstanding record at the European Race Walking Cup and with reigning Olympic and world 50km race walk champion Matej Toth at the helm of their team, they will looking for more success across the border in the Czech town of PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady in a week’s time on Sunday 21 May.
Toth, 34, is at the forefront of an 11-strong squad which Slovakia have announced for a competition where he will drop down from the distance which took him to gold in Rio last summer and Beijing the year before, to contest again the 20km distance, his preferred event at the European Race Walking Cup. 
Endurance might be one of his greatest assets but as he shown at the last three editions of this competition that he possesses enough speed on the right occasion and he has a full set of medals from this event. 
Toth was crowned 20km champion in Olhao in 2011, he won silver two years ago in Murcia and in 2013, on home territory in Dudince, it was bronze. 
His appearance in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady will signal a 16-year relationship with the European Race Walking Cup, having first finished 39th in the U20 10km race in Dudince back in 2001. 
He has competed every time since going from 24th in the 20km in in 2003 to making his first podium at the event six years ago when he won in 1:23:53. 
His appearance in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady will be his first international competition since he won the Olympic gold in Rio, and no doubt he will be looking for a big performance ahead of the defence of his world crown in London. 
 [VIDEO src='1276097' align='right'] 
“Nowhere else can I race walk as well as in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady. In addition, I have made four personal records here. It was in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady that I had my first victory as a senior [in 2003], plus an excellent performance; at the age of just 20 I raced 1:23:17. My dad has joined me every year, it's his annual tradition. In PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady I got to love race walking as a 14-year-old,” commented Tóth last year, showing his affection for the spa town and its race walking heritage. 
Toth has warmed up for the European Race Walking Cup by winning two domestic races in the last month – in Borsky Mikulas and Kosice – curiously in exactly the same time of 1:24:38. 
He is joined in the Slovakian 20km team by Milan Rizek, Dusan Majdan and Miroslav Uradnik. Christopher Linke leads the European lists with 1:18:59 and will start as the favourite at this distance but now that Tóth has been confirmed, the German’s challenge has got that slightly bit tougher. 
When Slovakia won women’s team bronze in Metz in 2009, Maria Czakova was in the winning squad. 
In 31st place, she was the third athlete home from her nation home and she – and Slovakia – will be eyeing a medal again in the 20km where she is joined by Monika Hornakova and Lucia Cubanova. 
As Toth won the men’s race in Borsky Mikulas, Czakova won the women’s in 1:40:38 but it is her 1:33:26 from the high-quality Lugano race in March which should stand her in even greater stead in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady. 
Lubomir Kubis and Daniel Kovac make up the Slovak junior men’s 10km team and Ema Hacundova and Klaudia Zarska will chase glory in the women’s event.

Matej Toth after winning the Rio 2016 Olympic Games 50km race walk gold medal.

Matej Toth after winning the Rio 2016 Olympic Games 50km race walk gold medal

 Slovakia have an outstanding record at the European Race Walking Cup and with reigning Olympic and world 50km race walk champion Matej Toth at the helm of

Tóth aims for the podium again in Poděbrady

The final entry lists for the European Race Walking Cup PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady 2017 on Sunday 21 May are now available on the European Athletics website.
226 athletes representing 26 European Athletics Member Federations (and including two Authorized Neutral Athletes) have been entered for the event in the historic Czech Republic spa town.
Among the notable names entered are men’s 20km defending champion Miguel Angel Lopez. However, the Spaniard faces a rematch of the 2015 race as Slovakia’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games 50km race walk gold medallist Matej Toth, second two years ago and the 20km winner in 2011, has decided to contest the shorter distance once again.
Germany's Christopher Linke and Great Britain's Tom Bosworth, the leading Europeans at this distance in Rio when they finished in fifth and sixth place respectively, are also among the entries for the men's 20km.
The women’s 20km should be a closely-fought affair as nearly all of Europe’s top race walkers will be on the start line including Italy’s Antonella Palmisano, Portugal’s Ana Cabecinha and Ines Henriques as well as Spain’s Julia Takacs.
The complete lists are available to download as a PDF file in the RELATED DOCUMENTS section on the right-hand side of <a target='_blank' href='http://www.european-athletics.org/competitions/european-race-walking-cup/'>this page</a>.

Miguel Angel Lopez Zurich

  The final entry lists for the European Race Walking Cup PodÄ&#155;brady 2017 on Sunday 21 May are now available on the European Athletics website. 226

Entry lists for the European Race Walking Cup Poděbrady 2017 available

Antonella Palmisano leads the 18-strong Italian team for the European Race Walking Cup in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady in the Czech Republic on 21 May.
Palmisano was one of the world’s leading age-group race walkers and her resume includes a third-place finish in the U20 10km in 2009 as well as a silver medal on the track from the European U20 Championships in the same season.
Palmisano is yet to claim a podium finish in a senior championships but the 25-year-old has been improving steadily since her ascent into the senior ranks and looks set to challenge for the individual honours in PodÃ&#132;&#155;brady.
Palmisano finished seventh at the 2014 European Athletics Championships which was followed by fifth at the 2015 World Championships and fourth at the 2016 Olympics. Her record at the European Race Walking Cup isn’t as distinguished but Palmisano arrives in Podebrady as one of the in-form walkers.
While she hasn’t raced over 20km so far this season, Palmisano smashed the Italian 10,000m record with 41:57.29 in Orvieto last month and just missed the world record of 41:56.23 which has stood since 1990.
Palmisano is part of a four-strong team in the 20km walk which also includes Valentina Trapletti, who won the Italian title at that distance in March.
The men’s team for the 20km walk is led by 22-year-old Francesco Fortunato, who arrives fresh from winning the national crown in a lifetime best of 1:22:04. He is joined by former winner Giorgio Rubino and the experienced Marco De Luca, who finished third in the 50km walk in 2015.

Italy’s Antonella Palmisano here competing in the 20km race walk at the Zurich 2014 European Athletics Championships

 Antonella Palmisano leads the 18-strong Italian team for the European Race Walking Cup in PodÄ&#155;brady in the Czech Republic on 21 May. Palmisano was one

Palmisano poised to challenge in Poděbrady

Ireland has named a seven member team for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May.
The standout name on the team is 39-year-old Robert Heffernan, a five-time Olympian and the world champion in the 50km walk in 2013. Heffernan will step down in distance to contest the 20km walk in Podebrady on the road to the World Championships in London this August.
However, the in-form member of the Irish team is Alex Wright, who has already improved his 20km walk lifetime best twice this season. In his last race, Wright clocked 1:21:17 in Rio Maior last month and will be aiming to improve on his 15th-place finish from Murcia two years ago.
The team also includes Cian McManamon and Brendan Boyce, who is entered in the 20km and the 50km walk.
On the women’s side, Ireland is represented in the U20 10km by Orla O’Connor and Niamh O’Connor, who both competed in the inaugural European U18 Championships in Tbilisi last summer.

Robert Heffernan

 Ireland has named a seven member team for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May. The standout name on the team is 39-year-old Robert Heffernan,

Heffernan and Wright lead Ireland’s hopes in Poděbrady

Tom Bosworth and Callum Wilkinson form part of a nine-strong British team for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady in the Czech Republic on 21 May.
Bosworth is the most accomplished member of the squad and he looks set to improve markedly on his 16th-place finish in the 20km walk from Murcia two years ago. His standout performance since then was a sixth-place finish in the Olympic Games where he lowered the British record to 1:20:13 in warm and humid conditions.
He began his 2017 campaign in record-breaking form with a national 5000m walk record of 18:39.47 at the British Indoor Championships and the 27-year-old is ranked fourth continentally in the 20km walk with a 1:20:58 season’s best set in Rio Maior last month.
Bosworth is joined on the team by Wilkinson, who is poised to make his senior international debut in Podebrady. The 20-year-old finished 12th over 10km in the U20 race two years ago but made his breakthrough last year by winning gold in the 10,000m walk at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz.
 [TWITTER ID='https://twitter.com/CWilko97/status/859779049102639104'] 
Wilkinson only made his 20km walk debut less than two months ago but it was a notable one, clocking a British U23 record of 1:23:47 - a mark which should also stand him in good stead when he returns to Bydgoszcz for the European U23 Championships in July.
The team for the 20km walk also includes 20-year-old Cameron Corbishley and Dominic King, a two-time Olympian in the 50km walk.
On the women's side, Gemma Bridge clocked a lifetime best of 1:35:01 in Podebrady last month and that performance was rewarded with her first international call-up. She is joined in the women's team alongside Bethan Davies and Heather Lewis.

Great Britain's Tom Bosworth will be among the leading athletes at the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May.

Bosworth's big moment

 Tom Bosworth and Callum Wilkinson form part of a nine-strong British team for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady in the Czech Republic on 21 May.

Bosworth and Wilkinson lead British team for Poděbrady

Two years ago, Christopher Linke celebrated gold at the European Race Walking Cup in Murcia as part of the triumphant German team and in less than a month, he will be eyeing individual success as he returns to one of the biggest events on the calendar.
Podebrady, to the east of Prague in the Czech Republic, is the setting for this year’s European Race Walking Cup and Linke is heading there on 21 May as not only the fastest man in Europe, but with experience of the course itself.
It was in Podebrady only 19 days ago that Linke, 28, produced a 20km personal best of 1:18:59.
He is the only European to dip under 1:20 this year and will be part of a German team of 14 for this major stepping stone towards the IAAF World Championships in London in August.
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World and European 20km walk champion Miguel Angel Lopez from Spain is set to defend his crown from Murcia - Linke was seventh in the individual race - Olympic and world 50km champion Matej Toth from Slovakia has opted for the shorter distance in Podebrady.
The rest of the field know how strong Linke is. He proved that in Rio last summer when he was Europe's leading man in the 20km walk where he finished fifth.
Linke will also face strong opposition from within as he is joined in the event by Hagen Pohle. He was 12th in Murcia, one place in front of Carl Dohmann, and along with Linke, they won team gold with 32 points from Russia (35) and Ukraine (37).
Dohmann is competing in the 50km in Podebrady after the team was selected following the German Race Walking Championships in Naumburg.
Nils Brembach and Jonathan Hilbert complete the men’s 20km line-up while Karl Junghann and Nathaniel Seiler are in the 50km squad.
Germany has one senior woman competing, national 20km champion Emilia Lehmeyer, who was eighth in Podebrady in April. This race will give her a good indication of her form heading towards the European U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz in July.
In the U20 events over 10km, Germany’s men team is Leo Kopp, Johannes Frenzl and Jan Stramka while the women’s team is Teresa Zurek, Julia Richter and Julia Henze.

Germany&lsquo;s Christopher Linke won the European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting in Podebrady in 2015 &amp; 2017 and will be among the favourites at the European Race Walking Cup on 21 May.

Linke and Virbalyte upset the odds and triumph in Podebrady

 Two years ago, Christopher Linke celebrated gold at the European Race Walking Cup in Murcia as part of the triumphant German team and in less than a month, he

Linke will be the one to catch in Poděbrady

World and Olympic 50km walk champion Matej Toth made a solid comeback to racing this weekend by claiming his ninth Slovakian title in the 20km walk.
In his first race since Rio de Janeiro where he became his country’s first ever athletics gold medallist, Toth stepped down to contest his secondary event at the Zahoracka Dvadsiatka. In cold and wet conditions, Toth was satisfied with his winning time of 1:24:38. 
'It was without any problems, that is a good sign. I was able to go at 4:10 per kilometre pace. All in all I’m satisfied with my first race after eight months,” he said on his return to racing.
 [INSTAGRAM ID='https://www.instagram.com/p/BTN_W2ElsOH/?taken-by=tothem83'] 
Toth underwent surgery on his left leg in the off-season and only resumed training December. After coming through an early season domestic test unscatched, he will step up his preparations ahead of the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May where he has opted to contest the 20km walk. 
The 34-year-old has already claimed the sport’s two biggest accolades but another four years of top level racing awaits. He is aiming to defend his 50km title at the World Championships in London this August and Toth plans to extend his career through until the next Olympics. 
'I said after Rio this was my last Olympics. But this will change, I want to continue until Tokyo 2020. If my health will be okay, I’m full of motivation for that plan,' he said.

Matej Toth will be one of the favourites for the men's 20km race walk in Podebrady

Toth makes a winning comeback on the road to Podebrady

 World and Olympic 50km walk champion Matej Toth made a solid comeback to racing this weekend by claiming his ninth Slovakian title in the 20km walk. In his

Toth makes a winning comeback on the road to Poděbrady

Media accreditation is now open for members of the press - written, television, radio and photographers - wishing to cover the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady, Czech Republic on 21 May.
The accreditation form is available to download under ‘related documents’ and should be submitted to <a href='mailto:kucerova@sprmedia.eu'>kucerova@sprmedia.eu</a> by Sunday 30 April.
 The last edition of the European Race Walking Cup was staged in Murcia, Spain two years ago. Miguel Angel Lopez highlighted the event with victory in his hometown over the 20km distance where he defeated soon-to-be world and Olympic 50km walk champion Matej Toth and world record-holder Yohann Diniz for the title.
The programme in Podebrady begins with the 50km walk at 8.00am local-time and concludes with the U20 women's 10km at 6.00pm.

The deadline to register for media accreditation for the Gyor 2018 European Athletics U18 Championships is Thursday 24 May.

Media Accreditation open for Gyor 2018

 Media accreditation is now open for members of the press - written, television, radio and photographers - wishing to cover the European Race Walking Cup in

Media Accreditation open for Podebrady 2017

Two years ago, Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez experienced one of the greatest moments of his life when he won 20km gold at the European Race Walking Cup on the roads close of home in Murcia.
His victory came with a brilliant performance, as he made the break at 9km and savoured the noise and celebrations of the crowd, a triumph which was just the start of an amazing summer where he went on to be crowned world champion in Beijing.
Turn the clock forward two years and Lopez will be looking for a repeat double in the months ahead, beginning with him leading the Spanish 20km team for this year’s European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May.
And what a strong men’s team it is, with Lopez joined by Alvaro Martin and Luis Alberto Amezcua, the two men who finished in front of him at last week’s national championships in Merida.
 [PHOTO src='1281049' size='mediumLandscape' align='right'] 
It is not often that Lopez suffers defeat, but to lose to fellow Spaniards will be a warning to the rest that when it comes to the team prize – let alone the individual positions – they are going to be immensely strong. They will also be joined by Diego Garcia Carrera, who was disqualified in Merida.
Lopez has a superb record at the European Race Walking Cup, where his gold in 2015 followed his 20km silver in 2013, his 2011 team gold and, as an 18-year-old, his second over 10km in Leamington in 2007.
But with such a strong line-up, Spain will be determined to make the podium this time, after finishing fourth in 2015 behind Germany, Russia and the Ukraine.
Lidia Sanchez-Puebla heads the women’s 20km bid for glory, after her national championship success last Sunday in 1:30:57, and she is joined by Laura Garcia-Caro and Maria Perez, who were second and third respectively in that race, and Amanda Caro.
Over 50km, the men’s senior team is Francisco Arcilla, Luis Corchete, Ivan Pajuelo and Benjamin Sanchez; over 10km, the junior men’s team is Kevin Cerro, Pedro Conesa and Jose Perez; and over 10km, the women’s junior team is Antia Chamosa, Irene Montejo and Marina Pena.

 Two years ago, Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez experienced one of the greatest moments of his life when he won 20km gold at the European Race Walking Cup on the

After finishing third in the 20km walk in 2015, Yohann Diniz has confirmed he will revert back to his specialist event at the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May.
The Frenchman is one of the all-time greats of the discipline with three European titles to his name. Diniz set the only world record of the 2014 European Championships in Zurich where he splashed through the puddles to achieve a still-standing mark of 3:32:33.
Diniz still hasn’t claimed a global title in the 50km walk and he will race in Podebrady as part of his build-up to the IAAF World Championships in London this August. He suffered a small setback at the French Championships earlier this month where he failed to finish the 20km due to injury but Diniz has already resumed light training and will travel to Portugal next month with the rest of the national team to continue his preparations.
The world record-holder told L’Equipe he is looking to post a time between 3:40-3:45 in Podebrady which will almost certainly put him in contention for the victory in May. For posterity, Mikhail Ryzhov won the title in Murcia two years ago in 3:43:32 while Diniz won the previous edition in Dudince in 2013 in 3:41:07.
Diniz is fast approaching veteran status but he is still capable of challenging for major honours. He finished last year with the world-leading time of 3:37:48 and while his Olympic campaign last summer was derailed by illness, Diniz should remain a factor in the 50km walk at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin where a fourth gold medal beckons - and even beyond.

Triple European 50km race walking champion, Yohann Diniz of France has already confirmed his presence at the upcoming European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on&nbsp;21 May.

World record-holder Diniz to headline in Podebrady

 After finishing third in the 20km walk in 2015, Yohann Diniz has confirmed he will revert back to his specialist event at the European Race Walking Cup in

Those athletes preparing for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady in just over two months time may now decide to step up their training just an extra ounce with the news that the Ukrainian team will be led by one of the best in the world – Ihor Hlavan.
It might not be until 21 May when the Czech spa town stages one this year’s biggest events on the European Athletics calendar but Ukraine have set their stall out early, though 2014 world 20km race walking champion Ruslan Dmytrenko has not made it after finishing seventh at the national championships while suffering from illness.
They have named a squad of 18 – 11 men and seven women – which includes Hlavan, who won individual and team silver in the 50km event at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome last year.
A walker of outstanding consistency, Hlavan finished in 3:44:02 as Australian Jared Tallent (3:42:36) took the title in a career where he has been so close to making the podium at a major championship.
Twice he has finished fourth at the world championships – in Moscow in 2013 in the 50km and in Beijing in 2015 in the 20km – and the European Race Walking Cup could be a good omen for the summer ahead, with the World Championships in London.
When Murcia last staged this biennial competition in 2015, Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez won the 20km and then progressed to world gold in the race where Hlavan was fourth.
Hlavan was fifth in Murcia in 1:21:24 as Lopez won in 1:19:52 but his priority is now on the longer distances in the build up to London.
His personal best goes back to that Moscow final in 2013 when his time of 3:40:39 was 36 seconds shy of Tallent in bronze.
Ivan Banzeruk, who was also part of the world race walking silver medal team in Rome – he was sixth in the race – is part of the 50km squad again, as are Marian Zakalnytstyi and Andriy Hrechkovskyi, who were both non scorers 12 months ago.
Hlavan and Banzeruk had a quite a tussle in the 50km race at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in 2014, with the latter achieving his personal best of 3:44:49 for fifth, 19 seconds and a position ahead of his teammate.
Serhiy Budza, who was Ukraine’s third athlete home in 17th in Rome, reverts to the 20km in Podebrady.
UKRAINE SQUAD
Men: 20km: Nazar Kovalenko, Ivan Losev, Oleksiy Kazanin, Serhiy Budza. 50km: Andriy Hrechkovskyi, Ihor Hlavan, Ivan Banzeruk, Marian Zakalnytstyi. 10km (juniors): Victor Shumik, Eduard Zabuzhenko, Viktor Kononenko.
Women: 20km: Nadiya Borovska, Inna Kashina, Olena Mizernyuk,Valentyna Myronchuk. 10km (juniors): Darya Khusainova, Ksenia Byelova, Iryna Chernukha.

Ukraine's Ihor Hlavan will lead the Ukrainian team at&nbsp;the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady on 21 May.

Hlavan heads Ukraine's walk to glory

 Those athletes preparing for the European Race Walking Cup in Podebrady in just over two months time may now decide to step up their training just an extra

The historical spa town of Podebrady in the Czech Republic which boasts a rich tradition of race walking, will host the 2017 edition of the biennial European Race Walking Cup on 21 May. The European Athletics Council awarded the event to the Czech town during its spring meeting in Amsterdam ahead of the 2016 European Athletics Championships.
The previous edition of the European Race Walking Cup was held in 2015 in Murcia, Spain, and it was local hero Miguel Angel Lopez who triumphed in the 20km as a prelude to his victory at the Beijing 2015 IAAF World Championships later in the season. 
 [VIDEO src='1276107' align='right'] 
Podebrady also hosts the famous annual ‘<a href='http://www.podebrady-walking.cz/en/' id='Podebrady Walking Race'>Podebrady Walking Race</a>’, a European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting as part of the Czech and Slovak Championships being held next year on 9 April 2017.
It will serve as a general rehearsal for the European Race Walking Cup where all of the continent’s best race walkers and teams will be present to test themselves ahead of the London 2017 IAAF World Championships.

Participants in last year's European Race Walking Cup in Murcia, Spain.

Podebrady to host 2017 European Race Walking Cup

 The historical spa town of Podebrady in the Czech Republic which boasts a rich tradition of race walking, will host the 2017 edition of the biennial European

There is no place like home - ask Miguel Angel Lopez. The Spaniard knows the streets of Murcia like the back of his hand, and on Sunday evening he made them his own.

Men's 20km 
The homegrown favourite paced a scintillating walk to get clear at nine kilometres and then enjoy the cheers, bravos and the rest of the race if not exactly in comfort, at least with a winning feeling. 
Lopez has set his hearts on World gold to go with two European firsts, and believed when he was 27 he would be at the top of his game. He reaches the milestone in July.
If you tell yourself that long enough, and couple it with hard miles, the sky’s the limit. Lopez to win not only conquering the rest of the world in Bejing at the end of August, he wants Olympic success as well.
But he might have had his heart in his mouth soon after the start.
Yohann Diniz set off like his singlet was on fire. A first 300 metres was at lightning pace and 3:58 after the first kilometre, the French world record holder for a week earlier in the year had creviced an eight-second gap on the chasing throng. By 3km (11:48) it had grown to 18 seconds to three chasers, Lopez, Ivanov and Denis Strelkov.
By the next time round, on a slight dog-leg of a course meant he was momentarily out of sight of pursuers. However, the chasing three had gone a marginal but significant two seconds quicker for the lap up to 4km.
On the next circuit the lead had been cut to a mere five seconds as quickly as it was forged in the first place, but Strelkov had been dropped.
It was deadlocked at 7km with Diniz, Lopez and Ivanov together, but the chasers were gathering to reel in the second Russian and did so after another 800 metres.
The split for the places came in the ninth lap. Diniz was shot out the back, clearly paying for his rash start, while Lopez had drawn a slight advantage out of Ivanov.
He grew the gap all the more when he saw the Russian had drawn two DQ cards.
After that, the chase for the minor medals took centre stage.
Diniz was caught and passed by Matej Toth, third in Dudince’s edition of the European Cup in 2013, who had Dzianis Simanovich from Belarus for company. 
He was living just inside his comfort zone, but like the Slovak got a lift when the unfortunate Ivanov picked up the third and final card.
A second Belarussian, Dziubin passed his friend, but was quickly overtaken by Diniz who had gathered himself for a second go at a medal.
The second wind turned into a strong breeze as he whistled past Simanovich and finally settled a fascinating race that went with a heartening second Spanish win of the day.
Incidentally, Lopez’s 1:19:52 matched his Spanish national championship win in February to the second.
'The crowd was amazing and I live very close to the course, and I will be thinking about today when I am here in the future. It was tough, but I am very happy,” said Lopez.

Video impression of the Murcia 2015 European Cup Race Walking
 [VIDEO src='1276107' align='right'] 
Women's 20km
The women’s 20km lived up to star billing with a dramatic last-lap sprint that decided gold.
Eleonora Giorgi made a brave bid on the final circuit, and it looked to be a decisive move by the Italian.
But world leader, Elmira Alembekova decided otherwise. With arms pumping and legs whirling, she dug deep to turn a five-metre deficit into the slightest of leads with 250 metres left.
Throwing caution to the winds as judges peered ever closer at the leaders’ technique, the Russian underlined her fine form to just about hang on to the finish.
Giorgi hurtled across two seconds later and suggest she will be a major threat at the World Championship later in the year. After all, the economics student improved her personal best for the third race in a row.
A second Russian, Svetlana Vasileyva, walked a last lone lap to claim a deserved bronze.
It was a far cry from the early circuits.
Six were slightly ahead but spread across the road rather than the processional look of most major races. However, the group quickly reformed to 14 by the third tour - with all the favourites forming the spearhead.
It then showed slivers of sunlight a lap later, although just about held together at 5km  (22:21). Then three came off the back including Portugal’s Ines Henriques as the pace moved it up a notch.
Elisa Rigaudo, the Olympic bronze medallist from 2008, was next to discover the leaders meant business.
At half way, (44:12), European Championship silver medallist Lyudmyla Olyanovska was a nose ahead of the rest, but it was almost the same formation with Rigaudo getting an unexpected lift as she latched on to the struggling Raquel Gonzalez from the host country.
By 12km, those in contention had been whittled down to seven, but with all favourites still in place.
Former world record holder Vera Sokolova was the one Russian now forced to settle for a minor place, and twice more round the final seven were also looking susceptible to a major split. 
Olyanovska was at the back, and along with Portugal’s Ana Cabecinha, the pair were forced to let the first five go at 15km (1:05:32).
The European Bronze medallist from 2014 looked to be in to trouble, but with determined cap on back to front, Ane&#133;¾ka Drahotová clawed her way back to the leaders.
It wasn’t to last.
The circuit between 16 and 17km proved decisive. Marina Pandakova paid for the pace as did Drahotová. On the bell lap, Alembekova was going eyeballs out to drop Giorgi and Vasileyva. 
She managed to dispose of the latter, but the Italian took up pole position only to discover Alembekova, who is now blond rather than brunette, proving a show stopper.
For all that, Giorgi was delighted with second place. “This is my first medal and I am very happy; it was my dream. My previous national record was 1:26:46 so I am very happy I beat it for the third time. I would like to fight and beat the Chinese and Russian athletes in Beijing.”
Men's 50km
Mikhail Ryzhov was lost amongst a group of female walkers as he took 50km gold but the Russian winner was a man alone for the last seven kilometres. 
He dropped team-mate Ivan Noskov when it mattered and strode on to a third medal success in three years. In 2014, he won the World Cup, and before that silver at the World Championships. 
Such was the nature of races overlapping each other, the men’s junior 10km and the women’s 20km took place in between.
Even so, there were tiring athletes in both races who only briefly glimpsed Ryzhov as he swept past them. 
Noskov held on for second, and Marco de Luca, sporting more red tape than a government form, was a deserved third. 
The Italian wears the medical strapping to relax his shoulders, but he was as calm and cool as the other 29 walkers at 8am. Soon the two Russians and the in-form De Luca decided to warm things up. 
Three laps into the 50 demanded, the trio forged 200 metres between themselves and chaser Poland’s Grzegorz Sudol, who in turn was 50 metres ahead of the chasing pack. 
Noskov and Ryzhof cranked up the pace to make 5km in 22:35, with De Luca seven seconds in arrears. By 10km (44:46) the leaders had upped a gear, but the Italian was still tantalisingly close. 
However, by 20km, the Russians were almost a minute clear and 13km later De Luca suffered. He was forced into a pit stop on lap 21 that saw him lose a minute, but not third. 
Giving chase was Ukrainian Ivan Banzeruk who notched 2:16:54 at 30k, but although more than three minutes back led a team of talents with proven success in the World Cup, and were to claim bronze in this race. 
Ryzhof was first to show his hand at 43km in a bid to break the bond with his compatriot, and when he did, the medals were decided. 
Banzeruk was fourth, and unsurprisingly Russia won team gold, with Italy delighted at a third silver of the morning.
Women's junior 10km
It went to form in the women’s junior 10km with the fastest this year first across the line.
Russia claimed their third victory of the day when Klavdiya Afanasyeva left her two-team mates just before the 7k mark. When you are as fair-skinned as the winner and still triumph over 30c degrees Spanish heat on a tiring Sunday afternoon, it suggests another successful product off a unceasing assembly line of champions.
Mariya Losinova was second, but when team-mate Olga Shargina was shown the red card on the last lap, the decibels revved up around the circuit.
Behind the leading pair, and they were well spread out, there was a battle royal for what was believed to be fourth. 
Instead, Maria Perez quickly gleaned she and Italian Noemi Stella were chasing a medal after Shargina’s demise.
Roared on by Murcians around the course, Perez found the gear all those given fresh inspiration do, and was 11 seconds clear by the finish.
However, the leading pair made sure the Russian national anthem got a fifth airing along the Gran Via Escultor Francisco Salzillo when they took team gold to go with two previous individual and two team wins.
All three Spanish walkers carried hopes of a home win and were carried on a wave of support from the gun.
Treading on their heels were two Russians - and the third was in the leading group of 12. Three were dropped next time round, and the big shock of the day was to see Lidia Sánchez-Puebla 15 metres back of the leading seven.
The co-favourite ,as a result of a ratified second fastest time on the start list, was clearly struggling. At 5km (23:34) all three Russians forged a lead, hammered, was closer the truth. The 20-metre advantage was a consequence of a 4:28 1km loop in contrast to the next best 4:34 by second Spaniard Maria Perez.
Stella ate into Perez’s lead and passed her, only to see the tables turned when Russian fortunes took a tumble.
A long way back, Katarzyna Zdzieblo sensibly moved through the heat for fifth, and behind her Sanchez-Pueblo will live to fight another day, but this race was more than two minutes outside her best.
Perez admitted she was in good form. I felt perfect physically. I thought the other Spanish performances today were sensational, although the temperature was a like devil’s inferno, and the course was a little bit complicated because it was seemingly flat, but undulated here and there.”

Men's junior 10km 
It’s been coming for a while - but Diego Garcia finally made top of the podium after a couple of near misses.
Roared on by an early morning home crowd in Murcia, the 19-year-old took the bull by the horns from the second lap and never let go.
Surprisingly, he was given a pretty easy ride, and although his face betrayed the effort, the gap to second allowed Garcia to high-five just about every cheering spectator over the last 150 metres.
Garcia won silver at the World Championships last year. Before that, it was bronze at the World Youth Championships in 2013, but this race was all but over after half way.
A blanket would have covered the first 15 on the 1km lap as they tore past 50km walkers already an hour into their race. 
Garcia clearly took home cheers to heart as he forged a small gap on the second circuit that by 4km (16:23) had grown despite a slightly slower mark than the previous two. A dozen-strong group were vainly trying to stay in the Spaniard’s wake, but they were looking far more stretched than he was.
His fifth lap to reach 5km was a heart-bursting 4:01 as he revved up the pace, and only a major collapse was going to stop him.
The pack was whittled down to three after one of the Russian favourites Maksim Krasnov was disqualified at 7km, and clearly one of them was going to miss out on a medal.
It turned out to be Ukrainian Miroslav Uradnik who came off the pack with two laps to go. For a moment it looked as if it was going to be a Spanish one-two, but Frenchman Jean Blancheteau battled with head bowed to get the better of Pablo Oliva over a tough last circuit and decide the medals.
Garcia was ready and waiting to greet Oliva at the end with arms thrown around each other in celebration. Both are trained by same coach, José Antonio Quintana, and both do six sessions a week together.
The winner admitted to a touch of nerves as he went for broke.
“I was on my own during the last race in the World Championships in Oregon,” Garcia added. “I didn’t know how my body would react but this time, it did not bother me.
“I trained to win this race and we were hoping for a one, two. Bringing the gold medal home in my home country is even more important than the next competition in Sweden at the European Junior Championships.”

Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez took gold over 20km ahead of Slovakia's Matej Toth and Yohann Diniz of France.

Lopez golden at home in Murcia

   There is no place like home - ask Miguel Angel Lopez. The Spaniard knows the streets of Murcia like the back of his hand, and on Sunday evening he made them

Two cracking races should set pulses racing at the 11th European Cup Race Walking on Sunday in Murcia.
Both 20k competitions list a heel-and-toe elite that makes for intriguing battles around a 1km circuit right through the heart of the southern Spanish town.
Those turning out to cheer homegrown athletes won’t need to look hard for a local hero. 
Current European champion Miguel Angel Lopez will get out of his own bed and walk to the course where he hopes to claim top honours.
The 27-year-old is more used to window shopping on the street close to where he lives. But if form is anything to go by he will cash in on a tremendous year by heading a stellar field.
Lopez strolled to a national championship win in northern Spain just two months ago, and still recorded a third-gear 1:19.52.
Not far behind was 20-year-old Alvaro Martin who notched a 1:20:19 personal best to offer more than one reason for Murcians to cheer.
But the real challenge to Lopez will come from the men who also starred at the Zurich 2014 European Athletics Championship.
World champion Aleksandr Ivanov took silver; Denis Strelkov claimed bronze - and two seconds separated the three.
There again, there’s Yohann Diniz.
The Frenchman won 50k European gold for the third time last year, and for a single week was world record holder at the shorter distance until his superb 1:17:02 was bettered yet again by Japanese Yusuki Suzuki who shaved a further 26 seconds off the mark. 
Diniz has opted for the 20km in Murcia, and for the 2007 European Cup winner, it tends to be all or nothing. If it’s all, then no look further than Spain, France and Russia for the medals.
It’s tempting to suggest there a European Championship repeat for the women that climbed the podium 12 months ago. 
After all, Elmira Alembekova posted the fastest time ever when the Russian stopped the clock at 1:24:47 at Sochi in February. It hacked 15 seconds off the mark set by Elena Lashmanova in wining the 2012 Olympic title, but the mark has yet to be ratified.
European bronze medallist Ane&#133;¾ka Drahotová will be in the main group for the first half, but might need to go somewhere close to her personal best time of 1:28:08 to be in the final shake-up.
It would be terrific for athletics in general if Jesus Angel Garcia can prove yet again that age is no barrier.
The Spaniard will be 46 in October, but after notching 3:45:41 earlier in the year has to be a serious medal contender in the 50km race.
However, the three decade multi-medallist will be hard pushed by Russian pair Ivan Noskov and Mikhail Ryzhov who have yet to show in 2015, but whose pedigree is undoubted.
Dark horses should be Italian Marco De Luca, in the form of his life after a personal best 3:45:25, and Ivan Banzeruk from Ukraine, with a recent 3:44:49 best.
 One country yet to win a major race walk medal is Turkey.
 That could all change in the junior men’s 10k if Muratcan Karapinar gets anywhere close to his superb 41:36 set in March. There is the inevitable strong challenge from Russia, as there is in the women’s junior race.
 Klavdiya Afanasyeva is the fastest in the field with 45:31 but is only 14 seconds quicker than Lidia Sánchez-Puebla.
 The Spaniard has the upper hand knowing she is on home ground with her personal best also posted in February.
The 18-year-old clearly oozes confidence. Her Twitter slogan says she believes in herself - not in dreams. Reality should place her firmly on Sunday's podium.
The event will be streamed live <a target='_blank' href='http://www.rfea.es/competi/2015_ECRW_Murcia/streaming_endirecto.htm'>here</a>.
Check out the highlights from the 2013 European Cup Race Walking in Dudince:
 [VIDEO src='1268344' align='right']

Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez is focused on winning gold in his hometown of Murcia.

Murcia set to host Europe's best walkers on Sunday

  Two cracking races should set pulses racing at the 11th European Cup Race Walking on Sunday in Murcia. Both 20k competitions list a heel-and-toe elite that

A total of 220 athletes, 139 men and 81 women, representing 27 Member Federations have been entered for the 11th European Cup Race Walking to be held in Murcia on 17 May.
The majority of athletes that placed well at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich last summer are back for more this time in Murcia. 
It will be an interesting battle in the men's 20km between both European champions from Zurich, Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez over 20km and world record holder over 50km, Yohann Diniz of France. 
On women's side it will be a rematch between the podium finishers in Zurich, with Elmira Alembekova, Lyudmila Olyanovska and Anezka Drahotova all aiming for gold.

It will be an extremely strong field in the men's 20km with European champion Miguel Angel Lopez looking to add this title in front of his home fans in Murcia.

final entries confirmed for European Cup Race Walking Murcia 2015

  A total of 220 athletes, 139 men and 81 women, representing 27 Member Federations have been entered for the 11th European Cup Race Walking to be held in

Final entries confirmed for European Cup Race Walking 

Yohann Diniz has had a year to remember and now he will look to regain another title when he leads the French bid for gold at the European Cup Race Walking in Murcia on 17 May.
Diniz has been confirmed in the France team for the event in Spain where he will compete in the 20km race, with Antonin Boyez and Kevin Campion making up their squad over that distance.
Back in Royal Leamington Spa in 2007, Diniz, now 37, won this title in 1:18:58, before taking the 50km crown in 3:41:07 in Dudince two years ago.
And he has been on quite a roll since last summer’s European Athletics Championships where he broke the world record when he won the 50km in 3:32:33.
In March, he added the 20km world record to his list as he triumphed in Arles in 1:17:02, only for China’s Yusuke Suzuki to beat the time with 1:16:36 a week later.
Yet Diniz is determined to make 2015 as successful as 2014 where he won his third European Athletics gold.
He will go to the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August aiming to race at both distances and Murcia will give him the chance to send out an impressive warning.
France have entered only one walker in the 50km in Xavier Le Coz.
The women’s 20km team is Violaine Averous, Corinne Baudoin, Emilie Menuet and Ines Pastorino, their boys’ 10km team is Jean Blancheteau, Thibault Hypolite, Axel Mutter while Axelle Ham will compete in the girls’ 10km.

France's Yohann Diniz has enjoyed tremendous success at European Athletics events.

Diniz has cup glory on his mind

  Yohann Diniz has had a year to remember and now he will look to regain another title when he leads the French bid for gold at the European Cup Race Walking in

The last time Ruslan Dmytrenko was on a major European race walking stage he missed out on the podium by the smallest possible margin. Now he has the chance to put that right.
It is just over two weeks until the European Cup Race Walking in Murcia and Dmytrenko is at the helm of a strong Ukrainian team.
Dmytrenko is the defending World Cup champion, a triumph he achieved in Taicang last year when he won in a national record of 1:18:37.
But then came an agonising fourth place at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich last summer after he shared the same time as Russia’s Denis Strelkov in a brilliant finish to the race where only two seconds separated the first four.
It was so close.
And the men’s event in Murcia is building up to something spectacular as once more Dmytrenko will face Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez, who took gold on that rainy morning at the European Athletics Championships, while France’s Yohann Diniz, the triple European 50km champion, is also due to compete in the 20km race.
<blockquote lang='en' class='twitter-tweet'>
Me hace muy feliz competir en <a href='https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mu?src=hash'>#Mu</a>&cia en la Copa de Europa de Marcha. Será el 17 de mayo y os espero ahí­ apoyando. <a href='http://t.co/1ExhH3JqEj'>pic.twitter.com/1ExhH3JqEj</a>
— Miguel &#129;ngel López (@MA_LopezNicolas) <a href='https://twitter.com/MA_LopezNicolas/status/589400136184369152'>April 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
Dmytrenko is joined in Ukraine's 20km squad by Andriy Kovenko, who was seventh in Zurich, Ihor Hlavan, who was fourth in the 50km at the last world championships, Nazar Kovalenko and Andriy Kovenko.
Ivan Banzeruk, Oleksiy Kazanin, Ihor Sakharuk and Sergiy Budza will compete in the 50km.
As Dmytrenko missed out on a medal in Zurich, his teammate Lyudmyla Olyanovska won silver in the women's 20km race in Zurich.
She is in the Ukrainian 20km team that includes Nadiya Borovska, Olena Shumkina and Inna Kashyna.
Olyanovska built on her seventh place at the World Cup in 2014 with a walk of 1:28:07 to hold off the challenge of the Czech Republic’s Anezka Drahotova by a second as Russian Elmira Alembekova won in 1:27:56.
This scene is set in Murcia for what could be a terrific rematch as both Drahotova and Alembekova will be contending for gold.

Just as it was in Zurich last summer, the men's 20km at the European Cup Race Walking in Murcia on 17 May will surely be another close race.

Dmytrenko will plot a podium spot

  The last&Acirc;&nbsp;time&Acirc;&nbsp;Ruslan Dmytrenko&Acirc;&nbsp;was on a major&Acirc;&nbsp;European race walking stage he missed out on the podium by the

Christopher Linke will spearhead Germany’s bid for glory at the European Cup Race Walking in Murcia in May.
Four years ago in Olhao, Portugal, Linke won bronze in the 50km event but now he will be part of the shorter distance where he has hit some fine form.
Linke won in Podebrady earlier this month in 1:20:37, to move to fifth in the European Athletics rankings and secure a qualifying time for this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
In the same race his teammate Hagen Pohle was sixth in 1:22:40 and then eight days later was second in Naumburg in 1:21:34 and will join Linke for the event in Spain on 17 May.
Linke’s victory in the European Athletics Permit Meeting in Podebrady sets him brilliantly for the European Cup Race Walking where he has been a consistent competitor since 2007.
He was seventh then in the 10km walk at Royal Leamington Spa two years ago in Dudince, he was 10th in the 20km walk.
Last summer in Zurich, Linke finished fifth at the European Athletics Championships in 1:21:00 with Pohle in 15th with 1:24:00.
They are joined in the men’s 20km team for Murcia by Nils-Christopher Gloger and Carl Dohmann.
France’s Yohann Diniz tops the European Athletics rankings for the 20km walk this year with his 1:17:02, from Arles in March, which was a world record performance.

Germany's Christopher Linke won over 20km in Podebrady on Saturday 8 April.

Linke leads German bid for the Cup

  Christopher Linke will spearhead Germany&acirc;&#128;&#153;s bid for glory at the European&Acirc;&nbsp;Cup&Acirc;&nbsp;Race Walking&Acirc;&nbsp;in Murcia in

Miguel Angel Lopez will no doubt have an extra desire to win the European Race Walking Cup in Murcia next month.
The Spanish European 20km champion will lead his country in the event that is taking place in the city where he was born.
Lopez produced a performance to remember last summer as he won the first major gold medal of his career with a thrilling victory in the rain of Zurich at the European Athletics Championships.
He is part of a strong Spanish squad for the competition on 17 May, an event where he has won silver twice, in Royal Leamington Spa in 2007, and two years ago in Dudince, when the Cup was last staged.
On the latter occasion, he was beaten by just eight seconds - 1:21:40 to 1:21:48 - by Denis Strelkov and Lopez gained a semblance of revenge in Zurich as the Russian was back in third.
Relive the final moments of the race below:
 [VIDEO src='1275757' align='right'] 
France’s Yohann Diniz triumphed in Dudince and in a year where has already broken the 20km record with 1:17:02 - before Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki took it down to 1:16:36 - it could be some race in Murcia if he decides to compete.
Alongside Lopez in the Spanish 20km team will be Alvaro Martin, Alberto Amezcua and Jose Ignacio Diaz.
It was some morning for Lopez back in August as his brilliant late surge saw him go in front of Russia’s Aleksandr Ivanov to take gold, 12 months after winning bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow.
He knew the pressure on him. As he said afterwards: 'Spain has a great tradition in race walking and it is a big responsibility to keep that going.'
<blockquote lang='en' class='twitter-tweet'>
La página de la <a href='https://twitter.com/atletismoRFEA'>@atletismoRFEA</a> ya dedica un espacio a la Copa de Europa de Marcha que se disputará en Murcia en mayo. <a href='http://t.co/TkLE0eP6Ce'>http://t.co/TkLE0eP6Ce</a>
— Miguel &#129;ngel López (@MA_LopezNicolas) <a href='https://twitter.com/MA_LopezNicolas/status/582869327503843328'>March 31, 2015</a></blockquote>
Lopez’s teammate Jesus Angel Garcia might be 45 but he is still going strong and is in the 50km squad, almost 22 years after he won the world title in Stuttgart. He has won the European Race Walking Cup on three occasions - in 1996, 2000 and 2001.
The rest of the 50km squad is Marc Tur, Benjamin Sanchez and Luis Manuel Corchete.
Their women’s 20km squad is led by Beatriz Pascual and includes Raquel Gonzalez, Julia Takacs and Maria Jose Poves.

Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez crosses the 20km race walking finish ahead of Russians Aleksandr Ivanov and Denis Strelkov at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.

Lopez will chase a true home success

  Miguel Angel Lopez will no doubt have an extra desire to win the European Race Walking Cup in Murcia next month. The Spanish European 20km champion will lead

<table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' border='0'><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table><table width='582' height='451'><tbody><tr><td> VENUE</td>
 <td> MURCIA/ESP</td>
 </tr><tr><td> COURSE</td>
 <td> GRAN VIA ESCULTOR SALZILLO (1km)</td>
 </tr><tr><td>LOC Contacts Address: </td>
 <td>
 REAL FEDERACION ESPA&#145;OLA DE ATLETISMO
 AVENIDA VALLADOLID, 81, 1º
 28008 – MADRID
 SPAIN</td>
 </tr><tr><td> Tel:</td>
 <td> +34 91 548 24 23</td>
 </tr><tr><td> Fax:</td>
 <td> +34 91 547 61 13</td>
 </tr><tr><td> E-mail:</td>
 <td> <a href='mailto:rfea@rfea.es'>rfea@rfea.es</a></td>
 </tr><tr><td> Website:</td>
 <td> <a href='http://www.rfea.es'>www.rfea.es</a></td>
 </tr><tr><td> LOC President </td>
 <td>
 JOS&#137; MAR&#141;A ODRIOZOLA
 </td>
 </tr><tr><td> E-mail:</td>
 <td> <a href='mailto:jmodriozola@rfea.es'>jmodriozola@rfea.es</a></td>
 </tr><tr><td> LOC General Secretary </td>
 <td> JOS&#137; LUIS DE CARLOS </td>
 </tr><tr><td> E-mail:</td>
 <td> <a href='mailto:jdecarlos@rfea.es'>jdecarlos@rfea.es</a></td>
 </tr><tr><td> LOC Event-Coordinator </td>
 <td> LUIS SALADIE </td>
 </tr><tr><td> E-mail:</td>
 <td> <a href='mailto:organizaciones@rfea.es'>organizaciones@rfea.es</a></td>
 </tr></tbody></table>

  &Acirc;&nbsp;VENUE             &Acirc;&nbsp;MURCIA/ESP         &Acirc;&nbsp;COURSE             &Acirc;&nbsp;GRAN VIA ESCULTOR SALZILLO (1km)         LOC

LOC Contact Murcia 2015

Considering the development of the political situation in Ukraine, European Athletics will host the 2015 European Cup Race Walking in Murcia, Spain. 
The competition, previously to be held in Ivano-Frankvisk, will take place on 17 May 2015.
The last time the European Cup Race Walking was held in 2013 in Dudince, Frenchman Yohann Diniz took the 50km as a prelude to his victory and world record at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich. 'I seem to be inspired by European Athletics competitions,' he said.

Murcia (ESP) will host the European Cup Race Walking in 2015.

walkers

  Considering the development of the political situation in Ukraine, European Athletics will host the 2015 European Cup Race Walking in Murcia, Spain. The

Murcia to host 2015 European Cup Race Walking

When the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk stages the European Cup Race Walking in May, Lyudmyla Olyanovska knows she will have the spotlight on her - and her countdown could not have started better.
Olyanovska, 21, who had the finest summer of her career as she won silver in the 20km walk at the European Athletics Championships, has followed that up by taking the national 10km record to 41:42.5 at the Ukrainian Race Walk Cup at the start of this month in Mukachevo.
Now she is looking beyond for more glory.
In May, Olyanovska will be among the favourites at the 11th European Cup Race Walking as Ukraine hosts the event for the first time and she is determined to ensure it is a competition to remember for the home fans.
'This winter should be rich for training camps as we started preparation for Ivano-Frankivsk,' said Olyanovska. 'It’s very important for us to make strong team and individual performances at a major event in our native country.'
Olyanovska took silver by a second in a thrilling race in the 20km walk at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August as she crossed the line in 1:28:07 from Anezka Drahotova, who broke the Czech Republic national record for bronze, as Russia's Elmira Alembekova won in 1:27:56.
She was already top of the European Athletics rankings for the 10km walk after her 42:30 in Moscow in August, a time she has now eclipsed with her Mukachevo performance, as she looks to gain as much as possible from her winter's training.
Olyanovska, speaking to uaf.org.ua, said: 'I feel very good, I am satisfied with the result in Zurich, and indeed last season. But now all thoughts are focused on next year and preparing for it. I will try to develop the success which came in 2014.'
The IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August is one of her big targets but she has not ruled out competing in the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Tallinn in July where she could face Drahotova once again, in what would be a thrilling race.

Lyudmyla Olyanovska earned a brilliant silver medal for her country of Ukraine at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich last summer.

Olyanovska homes in on the good times

  When the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk stages the European Cup Race Walking in May,&Acirc;&nbsp;Lyudmyla Olyanovska&Acirc;&nbsp;knows she will have the

On 23-25 April 2014 a European Athletics delegation conducted an official visit to Ivano- Frankivsk, the host city of the 2015 European Cup Race Walking.                                  
During the kick-off meeting the delegation members, Vadim Zelichenok (Council Delegate), Luis Saladie (Technical Delegate) and Sandrine Glacier (Project Coordinator) reviewed the status of preparatory activities.
'It was very important for us that the local organising committee received first-hand instructions, answers and an outline of strategic direction,” said the President of the Ivano-Frankivsk Athletic Association Vitaly Mateshko.
They also met with the Deputy of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration Sergei Adamovich and First Deputy Mayor Zynoviy Fitel.  
The meetings were aimed at making sure that both parties were on the same page as far as co-financing of the event. 
The European Athletics delegation inspected hotels, track, opening and closing ceremony locations, discussed security issues, marketing, transportation, communications, and medical coverage.
It was decided to introduce some adjustments to the locations of the food corners and to one of the turns along the course. 
The most important task the organisers face is reconstructing parts of the road and competition track which they hope to complete by October 2014.
'I think it’s safe to say that both parties were satisfied. We discussed all the technical issues and the Ukrainian Athletics Federation (FLAU) provided a very informative presentation on marketing aspects.  We worked out all the possible options for further action to successfully organise the competitions,' Mateshko added.
The next visit is expected in October, during the annual Ivano-Frankivsk evening race walking event, which will serve as a test for the 2015 European Cup Race Walking.

A European Athletics delegation met with the 2015 European Cup Race Walking local organising committee in Ivano-Frankivsk on 23-25 April.

European Athletics visits Ivano-Frankivsk

  On 23-25 April 2014 a European Athletics delegation conducted an official visit to Ivano- Frankivsk, the host city of the 2015 European Cup Race

European Race Walking Team Championships

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