On Friday 11 June the 47th edition of the International Race Walking Festival took place in Alytus (LTU), one of the last competions useful for obtaining the Olympic standard over the 20km distance.
As usual, in addition to the two men's and women's Olympic distance events, were also scheduled for U20 on the 10km distance and for U18 on the 5km distance. Some competitions for very young and veterans completed the day.
20km men
Twenty-three athletes at the start.
Among them is Vasiliy Mizinov (ANA) who recently regained the opportunity to compete internationally.
Hagen Pohle (GER) immediately takes the lead, who last Saturday in La Coruna had finished 19th in 1:21:58, followed a few meters by Arthur Mastianica (LTU) and further behind by a group that includes Vasiliy Mizinov among others (ANA), Kirill Frolov (ANA), Wayne Snyman (RSA), Nazar Kovalenko (UKR) and the Italians Niccolò Coppini and Ettore Grillo.
At 5km Hagen Pohle leads the race in 20:38 (last Saturday in La Coruna he passed in 20:35), followed by Nazar Kovalenko (21:12), Arthur Mastianica (21:18). Further behind Vasiliy Mizinov and Wayne Snyman to lead the group (21:25).
At 10km, Hagen Pohle always leads in 41:06 (5km seconds in 20:28; last Saturday in La Coruna he passed in 40:48), always followed by Kovalenko (41:56). Mizinov and Snyman reached Mastianica and passed in 42:23
At 15km the situation does not change. Pohle leads the race in 1:01:40 (third 5km in 20:34; last Saturday in La Coruna he passed in 1: 01.10). Mizinov (1:02:42) and Snyman (1:02:46) also reached Kovalenko (1:03:01).
In the last 5km Hagen Pohle continues to gain a few seconds and covers the last part of the race in 20:30 (last Saturday in La Coruna he had done the last 5km in 20:48).
Victory to Hagen Pohle (GER) in 1:22:19
Second place to Vasiliy Mizinov (ANA) in 1:23:36
Third place to Wayne Snyman (RSA) in 1:23:54
Fourth place to Nazar Kovalenko (UKR) in 1:24:28
The technical situation sees two athletes penalized by 2 minutes (Niccolò Coppini, ITA who ends the race anyway, and Norberth Toth, HUN who decides to stop) and a DQ athlete (Ettore Grillo, ITA)
20km women
Twenty-four athletes at the start.
At 5km (23:18) a group with about ten athletes leads the race. Among them: Elvira Khasanova (ANA), Yuliya Turova (ANA), Darya Golubeckova (ANA), Alana Barber (NZL), Magaly Bonilla (ECU) and the surprise Yeuhualeye Beletew (ETH) who we remember third at the U20 World Championships in Bydgoszcz 2016.
At 10km (46:10) it is the Ethiopian who leads the race with an advantage of 21 seconds over the others but burdened by a red card for lack of contact.
At 15km, Elvira Khasanova (ANA) takes the lead in 1:08:44 (third 5km in 22:33) who leads Yeuhualeye Beletew (ETH) by 5 seconds 81:08:49) and now has to deal with two reds cards.
In the last 5km Elvira Khasanova (ANA) continues with her pace and gets the victory in 1:30:42
Yeuhualeye Beletew (ETH) accuses the fatigue, but manages to defend the second position (1:31:32) which represents a new personal best for them (previous of 1:31:47, obtained in Asaba, NIG on 5.8.2018).
Third place to Yuliya Turova (ANA) in 1:32:35
Fourth place to Darya Golubeckova (ANA) in 1:32:53
The technical situation sees a DQ athlete (Stephanie Casey, USA).
Twenty-one athletes have completed the race and 2 DNF.
Master
We don't usually write about Masters.
Today we want to make an exception for Piergiorgio Andreotti (ITA) a true lover of walking.
You will find him in the last photo in the bottom on this article together with race walking judges of Alytus, as requested by him, and with a bib with a number that is not usually seen so often: 1300.
This is the number of walking competitions in which Piergiorgio Andreotti competed around the World.
Congratulations Piergiorgio. Race walking also needs people like you!
The results of the U20 and U18 tests in the Results section.
(Photos thanks to Frederic Bianchi - SUI)