The second day of the South American Championship, at the Alberto Spencer Stadium in Guayaquil (Ecuador) saw the performance of the men's 20,000m track walk.
At the time of writing, the race has just ended.
20km men
Nine athletes at the start representing the following Countries: Ecuador (3 athletes), Colombia (1 athlete), Brazil (2 athletes), Argentina (1 athlete), Panama (1 athlete) and Uruguay (1 athlete)
The race basically had two athletes fighting each other: Jhon Alexander Castaneda Angulo (COL) and local idol (and sorry if we mean it, our personal friend) Andres Chocho Leon (ECU).
The race finale then awarded Andres Chocho who won in 1: 24: 18.94, a bit far from his personal best on the distance on the track (1: 20: 23.8h obtained in Buenos Aires, ARG on 5.6.2011).
Below his split times each 5.000m:
- 5.000 21:16
- 10.000 42:35 (21:19)
- 15.000 1:03:28 (20:53)
- last 5.000m in 20:50
But certainly the Ecuadorian will have had to struggle to get the better of Jhon Alexander Castaneda who finished the race only 13: 88/100 in 1: 24: 32.06 also almost two minutes above the personal best (1 : 22.33.4h obtained in Lima, FOR 26.5.2019).
A moment of happiness for him too, on the day when another great Colombian athlete Egan Bernal won the Giro d'Italia 2021 at the age of 24.
The third port is Juan Manuel Cano Ceres (ARG) who finished his effort in 1: 25: 48.03 (while he has a personal best of 1: 22: 18.46 obtained in Buenos Aires, ARG on 25.1.2014).
South American recordman and Pan American 50km champion, Andres Chocho is one of the most experienced and successful walkers in South America, and he had already achieved the gold of the South American championship ten years ago in Buenos Aires, when he set the record of 1: 20: 23.8, which, as noted above, is his personal best.
"Now I will compete in La Coruña and face the final part of the preparation for the Olympic Games" commented Choco.
The men's walk has been part of the Championship program since 1974, first on the road and since 1999 on the track. Colombia is the most successful country with 9 titles, followed by Brazil with 7 and now Ecuador has 5, followed by Argentina with 2, Bolivia and Peru with 1. The most successful athlete was the Brazilian Sergio Vieira Galdino , which has won 4 times. while the Colombians Héctor Moreno and Ernesto Alfaro, Chocho and his compatriot - and Olympic champion - Jefferson Pérez have won twice.