News14 Mar 2004


2004 Race Walking Challenge gets ready to start on the road to Athens

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Robert Korzeniowski (6) walking next to Aigars Fadejevs (5) of Latvia (© Luis Saladie)

The 2004 IAAF Race Walking Challenge will get underway next weekend in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana (20/21 March 2004), the start of a five-month circuit which will end at the Olympic Games in Athens.

After a most successful inaugural edition in 2003, race walkers have an added incentive this year as Race Walking in general will for the first time be included in the IAAF World Rankings when they are issued on 23 March, just days after the 2004 Challenge opens with races in Tijuana.

Click here for Link to IAAF World Rankings announcement

2004 Schedule

The 2004 Race Walking Challenge will comprise seven meetings, including the IAAF Race Walking Cup in Naumburg, Germany, and the Summer Olympic Games. The venues are the same as in 2003 with the individual meetings being – Tijuana (MEX), Rio Major (POR), La Coruña (ESP), Sesto San Giovanni (ITA), and Shanghai (CHN). The Chinese race was cancelled last year due to the outbreak of the SARS disease.

Tijuana and Rio Major will host the first two legs in March and April, two events considered key in the athletes' preparation towards Naumburg, the German city which will organise the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, the first time ever in an Olympic year. Then La Coruña, Sesto San Giovanni and Shanghai will serve as a final tune-up prior to Athens.

Substantial Prize Money
 
There is substantial prize money on offer for the Challenge, with US $30,000 awarded to first place, $20,000 for second place and $15,000 for third…, graduating down to $5000 for an eighth place finish.

The point system is also straightforward - 10 for the winner, 9 for second place, 8 for third etc…making the Challenge easy to follow during the course of the year, with Rankings based upon the addition of the three best results achieved by athletes in any of the competitions.

2003 stars

Poland's Robert Korzeniowski and Ireland's Gillian O'Sullivan were the most consistent competitors during their four outings last year and claimed the top honours in the first edition of the Race Walking Challenge.

Korzeniowski was third in Tijuana and second in Sesto San Giovanni, before winning in La Coruña, all at 20km. He sealed the season with his third 50km World title in Paris, where he shattered the World record (3:36.03).

The 35-year old Pole totalled 33 points in the 2003 Challenge, followed by Spain's Francisco Javier Fernandez (28) and Latvia's Aigars Fadejevs (23).

In the women's Challenge, O'Sullivan topped the overall standings, thanks to her wins in Mexico and Italy, plus a second place finish in La Coruña and the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Paris.

O'Sullivan accumulated 29 points, ahead of Norway's Sydney Olympics runner-up Kjersti Plätzer (24) and Italy's 2002 World Cup winner Elisabetta Perrone (22). Portugal's Susana Feitor (22) was the only competitor who raced in the five scoring events.

In total, 18 men and eight women from 16 countries were listed in the overall standings, having raced in the minimum three events.

Russia, one of the leading countries in Race Walking, only had one athlete in the final standings: fifth placer Nadezhda Ryashkina. Yelena Nikolayeva saved the best for last as she won in La Coruña and went on to claim the World 20km gold in Paris.

China, another nation with a good tradition in this discipline, was absent from the Challenge and saw its event cancelled in Shanghai due to SARS.
  
30 nations ready to compete in Tijuana

Considering it is Olympic year, more athletes should join the Challenge this season, specially those willing to meet the Olympic standards.

Tijuana is a good example of the growing interest in the Challenge in 2004 as competitors from 30 countries are registered for next weekend's action.

Increased opportunities

The Challenge in 2003 provided race walkers with a good opportunity to excel and get more media attention internationally, and the discipline as a whole enjoyed one of its best seasons ever in 2003, as Ecuador's Jefferson Perez and Korzeniowski set new World records over 20km and 50km with 1:17:21 and 3:36:03, respectively.

The women racers also excelled, as Yelena Nikolayeva equalled the 1:26:22 global mark, set by China's Yan Wang two years ago. Another Chinese, 18-year-old Song Hongjuan, established a World junior best with 1:27:16.

So far this year it has been the Europeans who have shown the best form. Russia's Vladimir Stankin (1:17:23) and Yuliya Voyevodina (1:28:30) respectively in the men’s and women’s 20km, and Spain's Jose Antonio Gonzalez (3:49:01) in the men’s 50km have been the fastest so far this season.

The seven scoring events are as follows:

date, venue, distances (W - Women; M - Men)
 
Tijuana, MEX, 20/21 March - 20km W + 20km M + 50km M
Rio Major, POR, 3 April - 20km W + 20km M

IAAF Race Walking Cup, Naumburg, GER, 1/2 May -
20km W + 20km M + 50km M

Shanghai, CHN
, 22/23 May
 - 20km W + 20km M
La Coruña, ESP, 5 June - 20km W + 20km M
Sesto San Giovanni, ITA, 20 June - 20km W + 20km M

Olympic Games, Athens, GRE. August -
20km W (23 Aug) + 20km M (20 Aug) + 50km M (27 Aug)

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