News14 Mar 2010


Schwazer sets national 20km record in Lugano

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Alex Schwazer (Italy) walks to 1:18:24 at the Gran Premio Città di Lugano Memorial Albisetti (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)

Reigning Olympic 50km Race Walking champion Alex Schwazer broke the 20km Italian record today with 1:18:24 at the Gran Premio Città di Lugano Memorial Albisetti, a EA Race Walking Permit Meeting which is part of the 2010 IAAF Race Walking Challenge.

Schwazer smashed the long-standing national record held by former Olympic and World champion Maurizio Damilano who walked the distance in 1:18:54 in 1992 in La Coruna. Schwazer walked a dominating race from gun-to-tape setting a fierce pace from the early stages with a sub-4 minutes pace for each kilometre.

Only Ukraine’s Nazar Kovalenko tried to keep the pace of the Italian in the early kilometres but at 2km Schwazer injected a brisk pace pulling away from the rest of the field.

Schwazer, also a double World 50km bronze medallist in Helsinki and Osaka, went through the first 5km mark in 19:25 increasing his gap over Kovalenko to 30 seconds.

Schwazer continued to set a sub-1:19 pace and went through the 10km in 39:06 building up a gap of 1:20 mins over Robert Heffernan from Ireland, Grzegorz Sudol from Poland, and Aleksander Yargunkin from Russia who managed to close the gap on Kovalenko.

Thanks to a sub-8 minutes clocking in the 2 km split in the sixth of 10 laps of the loop circuit on the banks of the beautiful Lake Lugano, Schwazer continued to increase his gap over the chasing trio (Heffernan, Sudol and Yargunkin) to 1:28 at 12 km. Schwazer continued to increase his rhythm going through the 15 km mark in 58:44 setting a very consistent sub-4 mintes pace for each km. His gap over the chasing trio grew to 1:50. He romped home in a sensational 1:18.24.

Schwazer broke his previous PB by three minutes. It’s his second Italian record this year. On 24 January he set the 35 km national record smashing his previous best by ten minutes with an impressive 2:26:16 in Montalto di Castro. Last week the Sud Tyrol athlete from Racines made an attempt to break his own 50 km national record of 3:36:04 at the Italian 50km Championships in Signa near Florence but had to fight against a strong wind on a cold day and clocked a solid 3:50:22 despite very difficult weather conditions.

“I knew that I could walk in 1:19 but breaking the record of Maurizio Damilano is a dream that comes true”, said Schwazer. “I knew that it was a difficult record to beat. The work I have done in these past few years is bearing fruit now. I am now planning to train in Val Senales to prepare the 50 km at the World Cup in Chihuahua.”

Robert Heffernan, eighth in the 20 km at the Olympic Games in Bejing, finished second in 1:20:44, ahead of 50 km specialist Grzegosz Sudol (fourth in the 50 km at the World Championships in Berlin), third in 1:20:49.

Women
 
Yanfei Li, a young Chinese walker born in 1990, who finished third at the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2008, took the win in the women’s race in 1:31:26 beating her compatriot Li Li, who finished runner-up in 1:31:32. Third was Ines Henriques from Portugal in 1:32:30.

The  race started at a conservative pace. A big leading pack formed by Yanfei Li, Li Li, Ines Henriques, Johanna Jackson from Great Britain (winner last year in Lugano), Evangelia Xynou from Greece, Ana Cabecinha from Portugal, Zuzana Chindlerova from Czech Republic led at 5km in 23:34.

Henriques took the initiative at the lead of the group going through the 10km mark in 46:48 closely followed by Yanfei Li, Xynou, Li Li, Johanna Jackson.

The race proper began at 13 km when Li Yanfei forced the pace, and at that point only Li Li managed to follow closely. Li Yanfei passed the 15 km in 1:09:09 followed five seconds behind by Li Li.

Henriques and Jackson led the chasing group passing the 15 km in 1:09:43.

The two Chinese girls, who are currently training in Saluzzo at the Italian Walking School where they receive technical advice from Sandro Damilano, engaged their neck-to-neck battle for victory.

Yanfei Li managed to break away from her compatriot in the final 19 km when she took a decisive 5-second lead. Li Yanfei, who holds a PB of 1:28:57, crossed the finish-line in 1:31.26.
      
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

RESULTS

Men (20 km):
1 Alex Schwazer (Italy) 1:18:24
2 Robert Heffernan (Ireland) 1:20:44
3 Grzegorz Sudol (Poland) 1:20:49
4 Aleksander Yargunkin (Russia) 1:20:54
5 Ding Cheng (China) 1:22:02
6 Zhen Wang (China) 1:22:02
7 Nazar Kovalenko (Ukraine) 1:22:22
8 Jean Jacques Nkouloukidi (Italy) 1:22:32
9 Marco De Luca (Italy) 1:22:37
10 Andrei Talashka (Belarus) 1:23:52

Women (20 km):
1 Li Yanfei (China) 1:31:26
2 Li Li (China) 1:31:32
3 Ines Henriques (Portugal) 1:32:30
4 Johanna Jackson (Great Britain) 1:32:36
5 Evangelia Xynou (Greece) 1 :32 :57
6 Ana Cabecinha (Portugal) 1 :33 :14
7 Zuzana Schindlerova (Czech Republic) 1 :33 :17
8 Hanna Drabenia (Belarus) 1 :34 :25
9 Lucie Pelantova (Czech Republic) 1 :34 :47
10 Olga Povalyeva (Russia) 1:36:00

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