Kjersti Plätzer en route to her second Sesto San Giovanni victory (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
Australia’s Jared Tallent and Norway’s Kjersti Platzer topped the final standings of the 2008 IAAF Race Walking Challenge in a series which included eight competitions held from March to September.
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At the beginning of the year Jared Tallent was a promising Aussie barely known outside his own country. By the end of September at the end of the sixth IAAF Challenge series in Murcia, he was making his way back to the hotel with kit bag over one arm and one of those giant mock cheques for $30,000 tucked under the other.
‘Down Under’ 12,000 miles away he already had two Olympic medals in the family safe guarded by his new wife. Mrs Tallent, aka Claire Woods and a fellow Olympian in Beijing, had joked about one of them having to stay home and earn some money.
One hopes she was able to take a few days off when her husband arrived back on their doorstep with his cardboard cheque – and one very real improved bank balance. The 24-year-old will look back at 2008 as his year – and rightly so.
In two tumultuous months the man who got married in Walkerville (where else?) claimed Olympic silver in the 50km, bronze in the 20km – and overall first in the Challenge series on the very last day. The points earned in China set him up nicely to rain on Jefferson Perez’s parade in Murcia.
Just as one young walker made the breakthrough – another bid farewell to a sport that made him a national hero back in Ecuador. How many walkers can claim to have had a postage stamp issued in their honour?
But since Perez won Olympic gold in Atlanta 12 years ago, he’s ridden a wave of adulation with a mixture of humility and gratitude that befits a thoroughly well-liked athlete.
At the very end in Murcia having been passed by Tallent for second in this 20km race, the Ecuadorean was still the object of affection for most of the 30,000 spectators in the southern Spanish city.
So much so, that as he lurched over the line offloading the contents of his stomach, Perez’s fans were spilling over the course.
Two other walkers starting their last lap were unwittingly caught up in the stampede, requiring the strong-arm tactics of slow-moving stewards to return the street to a race course.
The fact that Tallent’s late charge reduced Perez’s Challenge by $15,000 to overall second appeared to faze the hero of the hour not a jot.
Francisco Fernandez was the actual winner in a slow 1:23:14, but not having the required four-race minimum to count in the final standings, the Spaniard admitted his appearance was more to do with Perez than any late claim for glory after relative failure at the Olympics.
But Eder Sanchez’s slip from first to third in the standings had to be a disappointment. The Mexican was the first Challenge winner of the year back in March.
His win on home soil in Chihuahua was followed with a faster first in Krakow in May where he comfortably dipped under 1:20:00. A further 10 points for his third in the World Walking Cup during the same two weeks elevated him to first in the standings. But a so-so Olympics set the tone for a reversal of placings in Murcia, and when Sanchez called it a day before 15km his fate was sealed.
Erik Tysse was second going into the last day, but the Norwegian is used to a high placing in the Challenge. Last year he was second, and in the year of the walking marriage, his late-May nuptials were eased into a tough schedule that also saw him earn two wins (Rio Maior and La Coruna) as well as completing both Olympic races.
But weddings and walks took their toll, and Murcia’s lowly sixth place and final fourth, while costing him money, was still a triumph of consistency. But he can always look to a loan from his sister, Kjersti Platzer, if he’s short of new furniture at the new house.
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Whatever it is Platzer has mined for herself in determination, the double Olympic silver medallist could make a fortune if she rented out directions to the mother lode.
It’s one thing to come up with a good season, but to be among the best for 22 years is just plain unfair to the rest of us mere mortals.
Last year, the 36-year-old had to be content with second in the Challenge. This time she made no mistake, although at the very end Athanasia Tsoumeléka gave her a run, sorry, walk for her money.
Platzer made it four wins on the spin: Chihuahua, Rio Maior in Portugal, Sesto San Giovanni in Italy and La Coruna in Spain, which probably would have been five had she not attended her brother’s wedding on the same day as the Krakow race in May.
All she had to do was finish in Murcia to lay claim to the top prize. But lurking in her shadow all season was the Greek Olympic gold medallist from four years ago.
Tsoumeléka’s return after giving birth to a baby girl made a lie of the notion her Athens triumph was a fluke. She snapped at Platzer’s heels throughout the Challenge to take a second (Sesto), a third (La Coruna) and two fourths.
And in the final fling at Murcia she finally headed Platzer to claim another second place. It meant the Norwegian had to finish no matter what in Spain to preserve top spot, which she duly did to win by six points.
However, the chances of both being around for the 2009 edition hang in the balance. At the press conference before Murcia, Platzer broadly hinted that like Perez sitting alongside her, she too was ready to draw the curtain on an illustrious career.
On the other hand, Tsoumeléka wants to carry on eventually – but only after she’s had a second baby like her hero Platzer.
The Greek said: “I so admire Kjersti and want to be like her. The way she manages a family, but is still a great walker is something I want to do as well. Next year for me, could depend on a number of things – including the shape of my belly.”
The unsung Claudia Stef has prided herself in never ever dropping out of a race, despite exhortations from her coach on a couple of occasions in the past, and the Romanian’s dogged determination paid off as she moved up three places from 2007 to overall third. Even as Stef suffered in the Murcia heat, she could still see the one risk to her $15,000 prize money no more than a place ahead of her in the latter stages.
The Romanian’s eyes were firmly fixed on Sabine Zimmer – yet another trooper of the Challenge. The German champion eventually eased from third to fourth in the standings, but not before a brave attempt in the final race.
Zimmer knows all about travels in this IAAF initiative for walkers. Last year, the red-haired athlete made four arduous journeys just to get a visa to make the final in Saransk. This time, her real effort was preserved for the first 8km in Spain where she was trying to put as much daylight between herself and Stef. Once the leading group broke up as Portuguese Susana Feitor enjoyed a late-season charge at the sharp end, Zimmer’s challenge wilted and the minor places were settled.
Next season, without Perez and probably Platzer, the world of walking will have lost two of the great ambassadors of the sport, but like Murcia on a sunny September morning, the future’s bright with the likes of Tallent ready to step into the Challenge breach.
Paul Warburton for the IAAF