2002 - Marathon and Walks Review

The Marathon running and Race Walking highlights of 2002. Renowned statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava continue their end of season review.

MEN - Marathon

The marathon has a unique position within present day athletics, the only event where the major international championships do not automatically carry the most importance and prestige in the competition calendar. This is a fairly modern phenomenon - traditionally the championships were more or less the only time that the general public was made aware of the existence of the event - and the Olympic winners were hailed as phenomenal athletes.

Just remember the impact of Dorando Pietri’s collapse in 1908, Emil Zatopek’s triumph in 1952, of Abebe Bikila’s sensational win in 1960 and his successful defence of the title four years later or of Frank Shorter’s heralding in 1972 of a renewed US marathon interest. Those images are among the strongest in the whole history of our sport.

But the big city races that were born in 1978 in New York have reversed the picture completely. Now the Olympic champions are quickly forgotten and the big acclaim instead goes to the runners that are successful in London, Boston, Berlin, New York, Chicago etc. (By the way, could you - without consulting some history book - name the last three Olympic champions?** answer below)

The situation is even harsher for the second tier of championships. When you think of marathon running in 2002, is it really names like Francis Robert Naali, Janne Holmen or Lee Bong-ju that first come to your mind? i.e. the winners of the Commonwealth Games, the European Championships and the Asian Championships with times in the 2:11-2:14 bracket?

No, of course not! The marathon man of 2002 is clearly USA’s Khalid Khanouchi on the strength of his impressive wins in 2:05 in London (April) and Chicago (October). Especially, as these races were no mere ‘exhibition’ runs but instead hard fought victories gained over extremely tough opposition. The field assembled in London was the best ever - and it is debateable whether Chicago was any weaker. On times recorded - not bringing weather or toughness of course into the equation - Chicago actually turned out the best with 5th place in 2:06:46 vs 2:07:06.

Calling 2002 the best marathon year ever thus is not just motivated by Khannouchi and his new world best in London but by the unique overall quality. Actually the 2002 top-10 turned out almost exactly on par with the all-time list up to and including 2001: 1st in 2:05:38 vs 2:05:42, 5th in 2:06:35 vs 2:06:36 and 10th in 2:07:06 vs 2:06:50!

MEN - Walks

The superstar of Race Walking, Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski last autumn made the decision that from 2002 until 2004 (when he plans to end his career) his focus will be firmly on the 50K event at the major championship of the year, i.e. 2002 Europeans, 2003 Worlds and 2004 Olympics. This meant that he would not contest the 20K in those meets and also that he would take any other competitions just as part of his preparations.

Walking fans of course will be saddened by this approach but with Korzeniowski’s international career already spanning well over a decade, and in view of the “grand slam” he made in Sydney, one can understand that he feels the need to manage his physical and mental energy more carefully. And judging from the outcome of his first “restricted” year the fans have nothing to complain about: Korzeniowski not only won the European 50K title - he did so emphatically (by three and a half minutes!) and in the new World Best time of 3:36:39!

But the best season clearly belonged to Russian Aleksey Voyevodin, who at age 32 became the revelation of 2002. Voyevodin has been around for some years (e.g. competed in three World Championships) but never featured as a medal contender. This year was very different indeed: First he won the Russian title, then he got the European silver before finishing off with a triumph at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup. On all three occasions he recorded a 3:40 time and if it hadn’t been for Korzeniowski, the Russian would have been an undisputed No 1!

While the 50K now is kept very much in the firm grip of (Eastern) Europe, the 20K still has some significant input also from Latin America in the form of the resurgent 1996 Olympic champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador and some Mexicans. At the World Race Walking Cup, Perez won and Alejandro Lopez and Noe Hernandez occupied the 3rd and 4th places.

However, the top European - Spain’s Francisco Javier Fernandez - skipped the World Cup in October after a brilliant but exhausting season: In April in Turku, he recorded the new World best time of 1:17:22, in June he took the Spanish title in 1:22:56, and in August he demolished all opposition at the European championships, winning by well over a minute in the second best time of the year - 1:18:37.

Fernandez was the 1996 World junior champion, which gives reason not to over interpret the fact that Russian Viktor Burayev, who got the World bronze in Edmonton at age 19, finished “only” 4th in the Europeans in Munich at the age of 20. Burayev still looks very much like the man of the future in an event where you usually never reach your peak form before 25.

WOMEN - Marathon

Of all the athletics events, the marathon is said to be the first one where women will pass men's achievements. That might be still light years away, but it is true that at the moment at the marathon, women athletes are at their closest to men, in terms of the relative level of performance. After failing to beat the World Best at London in April on her debut, Britain’s Paula Radcliffe made her second attack in Chicago in October, and succeeded by crushing the old best by almost 90 seconds. The new best 2:17:18 is excellent, but it still likely will be bettered during the coming seasons. It could well be Radcliffe herself who breaks the mark.

The 29-year-old Briton has been in trouble in past years because she has been missing a final kick especially in track races, but one is not usually necessary in marathon, especially if one runs as fast as Radcliffe does, and her first marathons have been very convincing. The women's World Best in marathon was held for a long time by Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway. Kristiansen, ran 2:21:06 in London 1985 and it was the best clocking until Tegla Loroupe (KEN) broke it in 1999 (2:20:43). A lot has happened since 1999 as Loroupe has now dropped down to fifth place in the all-time list, and a bunch of other runners are very close behind her too. In 2002, 87 runners went sub-2:30, and the number of athletes under this limit has been growing fast lately. In 2001, there were 78 running sub 2:30; in 2000 – 63; in 1999 – 56; in 1998 – 43; in 1997 – 46; in 1996 - 40.

2002 also marked the comeback of the Chinese to marathon. Wei Yanan and Sun Yingjie, who also had success on track, produced world class times in the Beijing marathon adding both to the World All-time Top Ten. Wei, who had to miss the Asian Games marathon at Busan because of a minor injury, is one of the Chinese who have gained success abroad too. She won the 2002 Seoul Marathon and was 8th at Boston last year. Wei's winning time of 2:20:23, took China world top with one great leap, and significantly, this was the first season since 1993 when the Chinese outclassed the Japanese in the world lists. Back in 1993, it had been Wang Junxia who ran her best to win the 7th National Games Marathon and was the world leader.

The year’s top ten provides further proof that there has been a big upward improvement in the event. Russia’s Lyudmila Petrova (RUS) is at 10th place in the world in 2002, but her time of 2:22:33 would have been enough to make her one of, if not the world leader only a few seasons ago - number 1 in 1996, 2 in 1997, 4 in 1998 and 3 in 1999.

WOMEN - Walks

Unlike for marathon, years without major worldwide championships very often produce low key seasons for women’s 20km Race Walking. The biggest event of the year for race walkers, the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, was of very low standard and produced very few marks which entered the world lists as seasonal bests for competitors.

Russian's were at the top of the world list, with the usual early marks made in their own country. That is with the exception of their world number one walker at the moment, Olimpiada Ivanova, who walked the world leading time of 1:26:42 to win the European Championships in Munich.

Number 20 in the world list this year was quite a low 1:30:44 in comparison to last season's 1:29:44. This was partly caused by the Chinese of whom the best did not compete at all because of the lack of big competitions inside China and with no major championships available externally. There were eight Chinese in the world top 20 last year, but this season had none. For example, reigning Olympic champion Wang Liping did not start any competitions during 2002, nor did Asian Record holder Wang Yan, who walked her best last year to win the Chinese National Games at Guangzhou.

Although times in general were a bit slower than last year, there were seven Russians at the top of the world lists. The fast walking times made in Russia have often been accused to be somehow irregular, but this opinion greatly underestimate their strength in international competitions.

Olimpiada Ivanova has risen to become the world's best walker at over 30. Last year she walked the current world best of 1:24:50 in the event before taking the World Championships in Edmonton in a very stylish way. She continued her winning feats in Munich and her only big disappointment during the last two seasons came in Torino, where she was forced to drop to second place in the IAAF World Race Walking Cup behind Erica Alfridi of the hosting nation, Italy.

** PS. Answer to the small quiz above: Hwang, Thugwane and Abera. If you managed to name all those three without “cheating” you should consider yourself a major marathon expert indeed!