The 73rd annual of walking event in Czech city of Podebrady which included qualification races for the World Championships in Helsinki, saw some results of a very high standard.
Men’s winner Yohan Diniz from France achieved a great personal best of 1:20:20. Also in very good conditions (around 10 degrees C, some small rain) second placer Matej Toth from Slovakia bettered his best to 1:21:38 what is one of the leading times in Europe in the U23 category.
Alfons Juck for the IAAF
Men 20 km:
1. Yohan Diniz, FRA 1:20:20 PB,
2. Matej Toth,SVK 1:21:38 PB,
3. Denis Langlois,FRA 1:22:47,
4. Andrey Stepanchuk,BLR 1:23:45,
5. Milos Holusa (National Champion) 1:24:45,
6. Maik Berger,GER 1:24:45,
7. Jiri Malysa 1:25:47,
8. Vitali Talankov,BLR 1:25:58,
9. Eddy Riva,FRA 1:26:13,
10. Bengt Bengtsson, SWE 1:27:56,
11. Marius Ziukas (85) LIT 1:27:58,
12. Jiri Chaloupka (85) 1:28:30,
13. Donatas Skarnulis, LIT 1:28:36,
14. Vilius Mikelionis, LIT 1:28:48,
International match – men: 1. Fra 3, 2. CZE 9, 3. BLR 9, 4. LIT 20, 5. SUI 27, SWE dnf
Women 20 km:
1. Barbora Dibelkova (National Champion) 1:33:16,
2. Snezhana Yurchenko, BLR 1:35:58,
3. Tatyana Zuyeva,BLR 1:36:35,
4. Tatiana Denize,FRA 1:36:49,
5. Marie Polli, SUI 1:36:58,
6. Brigita Virbalyte,LIT 1:39:16,
7. Patricia Garnier,FRA 1:39:22,
8. Christine Guinaudeu, FRA 1:39:45
International match – women: 1. BLR 5, 2. CZE 10, 3. FRA 11, 4. LIT 16, 5. SUI 17, SWE dnf
Juniors-men 10 km: 1. Carsten Schmidt,GER 40:45, 2. Peter Grof,SVK (87) 43:51, 3. Pavelas Velicko,LIT (88) 45:16
Juniors-women 10 km: 1. Lucie Pelantova 49:59, 2. Maud Montaletang,FRA 52:39, 3. Emille Saint-Maxent, FRA 52:42
Youth-boys – 5 km: 1. Jiri Malysa (91) jr. 26:18, 2. Tomas Lukac (90) SVK 26:26, 3. Kristian Tvrdon (90) SVK 26:34
Youth-girls – 5 km: 1. Smiegoule Sabutyte (91) LIT 24:33, 2. Maria Czakova (88),SVK 25:58, 3. Veronika Privalincova (92) SVK 26:56