Elisa Rigaudo heads the field including Maria Vasco and Susana Feitor in Mexico (© Omar Martínez)
Lisbon, PortugalThe Rio Maior International Race Walking Grand Prix will take place this Saturday (3 April). Especially in the women’s 20km race, the event has gathered several of the most important names in the discipline.
Defending champion returns
More than 30 athletes have already confirmed their entry for the women's 20km distance, such as the Italy’s 1996 Olympic silver and 2001 World bronze medallist Elisabetta Perrone, who won in Rio Maior last year, and presently stands in fourth position in the IAAF’s World Race Walking Ranking.
Tijuana top three race again
Also coming from Italy, Elisa Rigaudo who is currently World 10th ranked, must also be a danger especially as in the first event of the 2004 series in Tijuana, Mexico (20 March), she stormed to an impressive 1:28:50 personal best winning performance.
Portugal is also represented by their top athlete, Susana Feitor, who was third in Tijuana, and who lies sixth equal in the current World Rankings.
Maria Vasco, who won two years ago, is the Olympic bronze medallist and also took third place in the 2003 European Cup Race Walk (1:28:10, a personal best). The 28 year-old was second in Tijuana, and leads the Spanish team in Rio Maior.
Other top athletes to consider are Norica Cimpean (Romania), Nadezhda Ryashkina (Russia), Olive Laughnan (Ireland), and Jane Saville (Australia), among many others.
The men’s 20km does not present as strong a cast but should still provide a good race. The field is headed by the fifth placed walker in the World Ranking Ivan Trotskiy of Belarus, João Vieira (Portugal), and Alessandro Gandelline (Italy).
It had been hoped that names like the World record holder Jefferson Perez (Ecuador), who won in Tijuana would also compete, along with the top Spaniard Juan Molina and Latvia’s Aigairs Fedejevs (Latvia) but so far they are not on the start list.
43 athletes have entered.