As we prepare for the choice of the best athlete in March 2019, we cannot help but notice that this month of March 2019 was a month to frame.
Few times we remember a series of competitions with results in succession such as to make it seem a great awakening of the world race walk.
It began with the weekend of Huangshan (CHN) where in the 50km men (of women we will talk later) three athletes clocked down the wall at 3:42:00, to then continue in 20km men where instead there were six athletes under 1:20:00.
During the following weekend in Spain the Spanish National Championships of the 20km were held, won with two excellent performances by Miguel Angel Lopez and a female level by Maria Merez, but unfortunately in terms of scores were obscured by those obtained in China and Japan .
In the same weekend in Japan in Nomi at the 20km Asian Championships and at All Japan (with invitation from foreign athletes) we witnessed the "fireworks": five men under 1:18:00 is not something seing every day although among them there is the holder of the 20km world record Yusuke Suzuki.
Also on that day in Epinal, Yohann Diniz (FRA) ends a 35km in 2:29:28 that despite being the best seasonal world distance performance will not be taken into consederazione because this performance is associated with a score of "only" 1.199 points.
Our readers will therefore certainly understand that the entry threshold for the nominations for the month of march has been set by us at 1.200 points.
And therefore also the 50km of Dudince on March 24, 2019 contributes with the result of value of Havard Haukenes (NOR) to enrich the list of nominated.
Men category
The high value of the scores stimulated us to list them all
| Date | Event | Venue | Distance | Athlete | Result |
| | | | | | |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | WANG Qin | 3:38:02 |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | NIU Wenbin | 3:41:04 |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | LUO Jadong | 3:41:15 |
| 10.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 20km | WANG Kaihua | 1:19:01 |
| 10.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 20km | CAI Zelin | 1:19:36 |
| 17.3.2019 | Asian & All Japan 20km Championships | Nomi | 20km | YAMANISHI Toshikazu | 1:17:15 |
| 17.3.2019 | Asian & All Japan 20km Championships | Nomi | 20km | KAWANO Masatora | 1:17:24 |
| 17.3.2019 | Asian & All Japan 20km Championships | Nomi | 20km | IKEDA Koki | 1:17:25 |
| 17.3.2019 | Asian & All Japan 20km Championships | Nomi | 20km | SUZUKI Yusuke | 1:17:47 |
| 17.3.2019 | Asian & All Japan 20km Championships | Nomi | 20km | FUJISAWA Isamu | 1:17:52 |
| 23.3.2019 | Dudinská päťdesiatka | Dudince | 50km | HAUKENES Håvard | 3:42:50 |
Using the same system as last month, we determined the best performance in March.
| Pos. | Athlete | Result | Score points |
| | | | |
| 1. | YAMANISHI Toshikazu | 1:17:15 | 1.251 |
| 2. | KAWANO Masatora | 1:17:24 | 1.248 |
| 3. | IKEDA Koki | 1:17:25 | 1.247 |
| 4. | SUZUKI Yusuke | 1:17:47 | 1.239 |
| 5. | FUJISAWA Isamu | 1:17:52 | 1.238 |
| 6. | WANG Qin | 3:38:02 | 1.235 |
| 7. | NIU Wenbin | 3:41:04 | 1.216 |
| 8. | LUO Jadong | 3:41:15 | 1.215 |
| 9. | WANG Kaihua | 1:19:01 | 1.212 |
| 10. | HAUKENES Håvard | 3:42:50 | 1.206 |
| 11. | CAI Zelin | 1:19:36 | 1.200 |
Interesting are the time differences corresponding to the scores between the first four athletes who competed in the 50km and the respective first five athletes of the 20km.
| Athlete | Result | To be 1st | To be 2nd | To be 3rd | To be 4th | To be 5th |
| | | | | | | |
| WANG Qin | 3:38:02 | 3:35:21 (-2:41) | 3:35:49 (-2:13) | 3:36:08 (-1:54) | 3:37:26 (-0:36) | 3:37:36 (-0:46) |
| NIU Wenbin | 3:41:04 | (-5:43) | (-5:04) | (-4:56) | (-3:38) | (-3:48) |
| LUO Jadong | 3:41:15 | (-5:54) | (-5:15) | (-5:07) | (-3:49) | (-3:39) |
| HAUKENES Håvard | 3:42:50 | (-7:29) | (-6:50) | (-6:42) | (-5:24) | (-5:14) |
Women category
For women, the entry threshold for nominations for the month of March was lowered by us to 1.190 points (10 points less than that of men).
| Date | Event | Venue | Distance | Athlete | Result |
| | | | | | |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | LIU Hong | 3:59:15 |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | LI Maocuo | 4:03:51 |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | MA Faying | 4:07:30 |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | JIANG Penqin | 4:14:31 |
| 9.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 50km | BAI Tiantian | 4:14:49 |
| 10.3.2019 | Chinese Grand Prix & selection | Huangshan | 20km | QIEYANG Shenjie | 1:25:37 |
It is amazing how this month go in nomination only six athletes from China and all six come from the same cometition in Huangshan, with the only difference given by Qieyang Shenjie who competed in the 20km while the others participated in the 50km.
Using the same system as last month, we determined the best performance in March.
| Pos. | Athlete | Result | Score points |
| | | | |
| 1. | LIU Hong | 3:59:15 | 1.284 |
| 2. | LI Maocuo | 4:03:51 | 1.256 |
| 3. | MA Faying | 4:07:30 | 1.235 |
| 4. | QIEYANG Shenjie | 1:25:37 | 1.215 |
| 5. | JIANG Penqin | 4:14:31 | 1.193 |
| 6. | BAI Tiantian | 4:14:49 | 1.192 |
It is easy to imagine that the fabulous world record of Liu Hong is certainly the highlight of the month (and perhaps it will also be the highlight of 2019 season).
What is not easy to imagine is the mark it would have been necessary for Qieyang Shenjie to get a higher score. Let's see it in the same table
| Athlete | Result | To be 1st | To be 2nd | To be 3rd |
| | | | | |
| QIEYANG Shenjie | 1:25:37 | 1:21:50 (-3:47) | 1:23:21 (-2:16) | 1:24:30 (-1:07) |
If we imagine that the result obtained in Huangshan by Qieyang Shenjie is still a result of very high world value (the second ever of the athlete) and that the two performances below Liu Hong's world record, even if obtained without an international jury, in case they were obtained in regular conditions they would have obtained the following scores:
- 1:23:39: Cheboksary (RUS) - Jun. 9, 2018 - points 1: 251
- 1:24:31: Sochi (RUS) - Feb. 18, 2019 - points 1: 235
it is very difficult to hypothesize at the moment any athlete in the world capable of obtaining a time equal to 1:21:50 which would be the new unimaginable world record today (2:48 lower than the current one).
On the other hand, an improvement by Liu Hong (or perhaps other athletes) of the current record in 50km is conceivable before the specialty goes into quiescency.
We heard some race walk experts who confirmed our hypotheses to us.
It would be absolutely not science fiction to hypothesize a world record in the 50km women at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020 in the area 3:55:00-3:55:30.
Translated in terms of score it would mean getting a score between:
- 1.310 points (obtainable with a result of 3:54:59)
- 1.307 points (obtainable with a result of 3:55:28)
We'll see!