Anezka Drahotova leading the 2013 European Athletics Junior Championships 10,000m Race Walk (© Getty Images)
She hasn’t competed on the track this summer – or at least not in a race walking event – but European junior champion Anezka Drahotova is the big favourite to win the 10,000m race walk in Eugene.
The talented Czech athlete, who turns 19 on the opening day of the championships, finished seventh at last year’s senior IAAF World Championships in Moscow and will be joined on the team by her twin sister Eliska, who took bronze at last year’s European Junior Championships.
One day after the 10,000m race walk final, Drahotova will line up for the heats of the 3000m steeplechase.
Chinese duo Wang Na and Ni Yuanyuan are expected to pose a threat, so too are the Russian pair of world youth champion Olga Shargina and European junior silver medallist Oksana Golyatkina.
Many of the leading contenders have competed exclusively on the roads this season, leaving Viktoryia Rashchupkina of Belarus as this year’s fastest performer on the track with 46:08.68.
Parker Morse for the IAAF
