Antalya, a city in Turkey that needs no introduction due to its history, its sea and its surroundings, today hosts the Turkish Open Walking Championships.
Not only the interesting Turkish Team of Mustagha Akyavas will be fighting on the circuit by the sea, but also athletes from Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia and Kazakhstan.
The time program is as follows:
08:30 - 50 km men
08:45 - 20 km men
08:45 - 10 km women
10:15 - 20 km women
11:10 U20 10 km men
12:10 U18 10 km boys
13:10 U18 5 km girls
13:10 U20 10 km women
Unfortunately, the day before was marred by a serious accident that happened in Burdur about seventy kilometers from Antalya where a minibus carrying some athletes had a road accident.
The young walker (year of birth 2004) Şevval Şengün (TUR) was seriously injured following the accident, was operated on at the Isparta state hospital. The athlete's treatment continues in intensive care.
According to the information received, there were no other serious injuries in the minibus traveling with coach Orhan Avcı and in the other five athletes on board.
10km women
It was the event that ended first with a great result
The only athlete in the race Meryem Bekmez (TUR) wins and for the first time goes below 44:00.
Bekmez finished her race in 43:23 which represents the new national record of Turkey over this distance (previous of 44:11 set in La Coruna, ESP on 8.6.2019).
Needless to say, Meryem Bekmez also holds U23 records (44:23, set in Antalya, TUR on 16.2.2020) and U20 (44:58, set in Antalya, TUR on 11.2.2017).
20km men
An exciting "one ... two".
In the second event completed another national record of Turkey is broken, this time by Salih Kormaz (TUR) in 1:18:42 (previous of 1:19:31 set in Antalya, TUR on 16.2.2020).
Salih Kormaz also holds the U23 record (1:20:35, set in Minsk, BLR on 1.1.1997).
It should also be noted that Salih Korkmaz broke another record in the 10km passage with the result of 39:11. Also in this case the previous record of 39:20 was set in Antalya, TUR on 16.2.2020 in the last edition of the Turkish Championships.
His progression over distance was, to say the least, unstoppable, as we report in the following table
| | Performance | Place | Date |
| 2021 | 1:18:42 | Antalya (TUR) | 6 MAR 2021 |
| 2020 | 1:19:31 | Antalya (TUR) | 16 FEB 2020 |
| 2019 | 1:20:35 | Minsk (BLR) | 24 AUG 2019 |
| 2017 | 1:23:11 | Bydgoszcz (POL) | 16 JUL 2017 |
Second place to Eduard Zabuzhenko (UKR) in 1:19:29 which represents the new personal best of the athlete (previous of 1:20:46 established in Ivano Frankivsk, UKR on 14.2.2020).
Third place to Ivan Losev (UKR) in 1:20:46
In Turkish Championships:
Silver to Sahin Senoduncu (TUR) in 1:23:02 ranked fifth overall
Bronze to Abdusaelam Imuk (TUR) in 1:23:28 ranked seventh overallSecond place to
Third place to
Below the updated list up today of 20km men
20km women
Three athletes from Ukraine in the top positions.
Victory to Mariia Sakharuk (UKR) in 1:28:47 new personal best (previous of 1:19:31 established in Antalya, TUR on 16.2.2020).
Second place to Lyudmyla Olyanovska (UKR) in 1:29:52
Third place to Olena Sobchuk (UKR) in 1:30:01
Fourth place to Aiman Ratova (KAZ) in 1:30:22
In Turkish Championships:
Silver to Evin Demir (TUR) in 1:32:14 ranked fifth overall establishing the new new personal best (previous of 1:33:26 established in Antalya, TUR on 16.2.2020).
Bronze to Kader Dost (TUR) in 1:33:45 ranked sixth overall in the new new personal best (previous of 1:41:25 established in Ivano Frankivsk, UKR on 14.3.2020).
Turkey's other top athlete Ayse Tekdal has been disqualified.
Below the updated world list up today of 20km women
50km men
No Turkish athlete competing in the 50km race took place as if it were the National Open Championship of Ukraine seven athletes from Ukraine at the start and one from Lithuania.
Victory with a very good time to Maryan Zakalnytskyi (UKR) in 3:46:28 (remember that in Taicang, CHN on 5.5.2018 she had set her personal best of 3:44:59, while in the same season on 7.8.2018 she had won the European Championships in Berlin in 3:46:32
Second place to Ruslan Smolonskis (LAT) in 3:55:00 new personal best (previous of 3:56:02 established in Torrevieja, ESP on 14.2.2020).
Third place to Valerii Litaniuk (UKR) in 3:56:18
No other alteta completed the race: 2 for DQ and 3 DNF.
Below the updated world list up today of 50km men