If there is a walking race in the Oregon 2022 World Championships, this, at least for us, is the men's 35km.
The second (but first in a World Championship) experience of the athletes on distance, the possibilities of matching the 20km of the previous week and the little history of racing in the season will be the main variables that will influence this event.
Already the women's race has decreed with its three medals assigned in an identical manner to those of the 20km that the 35km seems to favor "fast" walkers over "endurance" ones.
And here in the list of starters of "endurance" walkers there are not so many.
Masatora Kawano (JAP) with his 3:36:45 which is the national record of Japan and who is also the 2022 world leader of the 35km in 2:26:40
Tomohiro Noda (JPN) with his 50: 3:39:47 and 35: 2:27:18
Olympic champion Dawid Tomala (POL) with his 50: 3:49:23 and 35: 2:37:22
Olympic bonze Evan Dunfee (CAN) with his 3:41:38 and 35: 2:38:08
Karl Junghannss (GER) with his 50: 3:47:01 and 35: 2:31:37
Carl Dohmann (GER) with his 50: 3:35:21 and 35: 2:30:59
Dean Joao Vieira (POR) with his 50: 3:45:15 and 35: 2:33:23
All the others have mostly had experiences of "fast walking".
There should be 50 at the start representing 28 countries.
Even if the men's race should give the same feedback as that of the women and tell us that the 35km is the privilege of "fast" walkers, we really believe that discussions will open up on whose implications we do not even want to think about at the moment.
And we come to the race.
- at 5km
The Japanese madness (but will it be madness?), With Daisuke Matasunaga, manifests itself immediately after the gunshot and reminds us of Doha 2019, when Yusuke Suzuki was no longer caught in the 50km.
His split time at 5km is 20:15 with an advantage of 48 seconds over a group of about fifteen athletes, including Perseus Karlstrom with a new look like "the last of the Mohicans", He Xianghong (CHN), Jose Luis Doctor (MEX), Eider Arevalo (COL), Miguel Angel Lopez (ESP), Dawid Tomala (POL) and Massimo Stano (ITA).
Everyone passes in 21:02.
The chess game has just started and the game can also be expected at 2:25:00.
- at 10km
Matsunaga passes in 40:38 (5km seconds in 20:23).
The group behind has shrunk and now they are nine (Brian Daniel Pintado, He Xianghong, José Luis Doctor, Perseus Karlstrom, Massimo Stano, Ricardo Ortiz, Masatora Kawano, Miguel Angel Lopez and Eider Arevalo) at 53 seconds in 41:31.
SeguenTomohiro Noda in 41:41
- at 15km
Slows down Matsunaga's pace, covering the third 5km in 20:52 for a total of 1:10:10
Behind him the eight pursuers already indicated at 10km. Their passage is 1:02:02 and their gap is 52 seconds
- at 20km
It looks bad for Matsunaga. His pace slows a lot as the pursuers from behind increase the pace.
He passes in 1:22:33 (5km quarters in 21:23) but his advantage is reduced to just 7 seconds. He will be picked up shortly after.
The eight pursuers passed in 1: 22.40.
Now the fight for medals begins.
- at 25km
The situation has changed.
Lead the group Brian Daniel Pintado, Masatora Kawano, He Xianghong, Perseus Karlstrom in 1:43:04 (fifth 5km in 20:31)
He Xianghong, Jose Luis Doctor, Massimo Stano, in 1:43:06
Tomohiro Noda (1:14:28) and Evan Dunfee (1:43:29) are returning, while Miguel Angel Lopez and Eider Arevala are losing ground.
Matsunada is out of the game.
- at 30km
Among the leaders José Luis Doctor (MEX) is stopped in the penalty area.
Five remain to drive (Stano, He, Kawano, Pintado and Karlstrom).
Their passage is 2:03:24 (sixth 5 km in 21:20),
The Chinese gives up and four are left for the medal battle
- last 5km
The fight between the four loses Pintado,
Stano force the pace and takes off Karlstrom who then returns to Kawano and Stano himself.
But Stano still imposes his pace and only Masatora Kawano can resist.
Karlstrom tries to limit the damage and keep the bronze
In the last km Stano looks like a steamroller, but with an incredible speed (19:50 in the last 5km) he takes off Kawano who tries and tries in every way to hang him up.
On the finish straight, Stano turns around, sees him six meters away and decides to go and get the Italian flag, losing a couple of seconds.
But he wins with the flag.
Truly, the history of race walking is rewritten. The time of Stano in the last 5km says that there will be no space in the future for “endurance” walkers on the 35km.
Ordel of arrival
1.- 2:23:14 Massimo STANO (ITA)
2.- 2:23:15 Masatora KAWANO (JPN)
3.- 2:23:44 Perseus KARLSTRÖM (SWE)
4.- 2:24:37 Brian Daniel PINTADO (ECU)
5.- 2:24:45 Xianghong HE (CHN)
6.- 2:25:02 Evan DUNFEE (CAN)
7.- 2:25:14 Caio BONFIM (BRA)
8.- 2:25:21 Eider ARÉVALO (COL)
9.- 2:25:29 Tomohiro NODA (JPN)
10.- 2:25:58 Miguel Ángel LÓPEZ (ESP)
World updated list of the 35km men
| | | Mark | Competitor | Nat | Venue | Date |
| 1 | 2:23:14 | Massimo STANO |  ITA | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 2 | 2:23:15 | Masatora KAWANO |  JPN | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 3 | 2:23:44 | Perseus KARLSTRÖM |  SWE | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 4 | 2:24:37 | Brian Daniel PINTADO |  ECU | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 5 | 2:24:45 | Xianghong HE |  CHN | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 6 | 2:25:02 | Evan DUNFEE |  CAN | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 7 | 2:25:14 | Caio BONFIM |  BRA | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 8 | 2:25:21 | Eider ARÉVALO |  COL | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 9 | 2:25:29 | Tomohiro NODA | JPN | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
| 10 | 2:25:58 | Miguel Ángel LÓPEZ |  ESP | Eugene, OR (USA) | 24 JUL 2022 |
Altre foto nel photo album
(dal sito web della World Athletics by Mike Rowbottom)
Italy’s Olympic 20km race walk champion Massimo Stano won the first men’s 35km race walk to be held at the World Athletics Championships, clocking 2:23:14 to hold off Japan’s Masatora Kawano in Oregon on Sunday (24). Kawano collapsed over the line one second later for silver in an Asian record of 2:23:15.
The Italian was the first to help his stricken rival to his feet.
Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom, who had won bronze in the opening day’s men’s 20km race walk behind the Japanese pair of Toshikazu Yamanishi and Koki Ikeda, earned a second in a personal best of 2:23:44.
Kawano’s compatriot Daisuke Matsunaga had gambled hugely in the first half of the race, establishing a lead of over a minute by the 13th kilometre, but by the 21st kilometre he was passed by the pack and eventually finished 26th, more than 10 minutes off the pace.
But it was a brave effort from the man who had started the race second in the 2022 top list, having finished runner-up to Kawano at the Japanese trials in April in 2:27:09.
Brian Pintado of Ecuador, finishing fourth, had the consolation of setting a South American record of 2:24:37, while China’s He Xianghong set an Asian record of 2:24:45 in fifth place and Evan Dunfee of Canada, who took bronze in the last ever Olympic men’s 50km race walk in Sapporo last summer, was sixth in a North American record of 2:25:02.
Karlstrom, who was soon celebrating with a giant blue and yellow Viking hat on his head, had been the man who had done most to catch the lone figure of Matsunaga, whose bold effort looked for a few kilometres as if it might even work.
The 27-year-old Japanese athlete, who finished seventh in the Rio 2016 men’s 20km race walk after winning the Asian title earlier in the year, was a man on a mission from the off, rocketing along the 1km looped course on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard in downtown Eugene to create a significant lead of almost half a minute after the first kilometre, which he covered in 3:59, with the pack more than 25 seconds behind.
That lead grew steadily as the pack remained tight, but shortly after the 20km marker the balance of the race tipped and the chasing group became the leading group.
Gradually the pack of eight reduced, to the point that with 5km to go there were five contenders left - Stano, Kawano, Karlstrom, Pintado and He.
He was first to go, then Pintado. And as the front three moved through the 33km marker the field was reforming into a duo, with the Swede adrift.
Stano, impassive, inexorable, was an immoveable object. Kawano, desperate to emulate Yamanishi’s earlier victory, showed the pain involved on his face and was an utterly spent force as he crossed the line having managed a despairing final surge over the last 10 metres.
Unlike Karlstrom, Stano had elected to concentrate his energies on the longer race, which is now the official companion of the 20km event for both men and women at major championships.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
