Jefferson Perez takes his third career World 20km title (© Getty Images)
Ecuador's Jefferson Perez, Spain's Francisco Javier "Paquillo" Fernandez and Mexico's Eder Sanchez join Australia's Luke Adams as the top attractions for the start of the 2008 IAAF Race Walking Challenge, Saturday and Sunday (7-8 March) in this northern border city.
Adams and Belarus' Ryta Turava are here to start their defense of their 2007 IAAF Race Walking Challenge titles, with two other major goals ahead in 2008: the IAAF World Cup in May and the Olympic Games in August.
For the sixth consecutive year, Mexico plays host to the annual race walking series, the first major event for the top athletes in the season. The response has been very positive with over 130 athletes from 22 countries already confirmed.
In the previous Olympic year, Perez also competed in Mexico, winning the first leg of the Challenge in the northern city of Tijuana. This year, the three-time World champion has set a less ambitious individual target as his main focus is to help his countryman Rolando Saquipay reach the Olympic A qualifying standard.
Recovered from physiological problems, the 33-year-old feels it's time to help Saquipay, who played a key role in Perez's successful world title defense in Helsinki 2005.
Facing his archrival Paquillo for the first time on Latin American soil, the 1996 Olympic gold medallist does not see the Saturday duel as revenge from the 2007 Osaka World Championships, where he claimed his third consecutive crown ahead of the younger Spaniard.
Fernandez is back to Mexico after his runner-up performance in 2003. The Ecuadorian did not start then due to a breathing problem.
Paquillo and his teammates arrived here on 29 February to get used to the weather and the course. He is joined by 2005 Helsinki bronze medallist Juan Manuel Molina, three-time 50km World championship medallist Jesús Ángel García and Benjamín Sánchez.
"It motivates me to compete with Jefferson Pérez, but also Juanma Molina, Benjamín Sánchez. Jefferson Pérez is undoubtedly the No. 1 in the World. It is going to be a very competitive race with the Mexicans like Eder Sánchez," said the 2004 Olympic silver medallist after a training session on the course.
With Chihuahua located 1400m above sea level, the 2005 and 2006 Challenge winner still prefers to race with no altitude, but had promised himself to return to Mexico as long as the competition is not has high as last year near Mexico City.
Luke Adams is also full of ambitions in this Olympic year. And his early season form was confirmed when second (1:20:32) to Jared Tallent (1:19:41) at the Australian Championships in Melbourne, on 23 February. With the fastest times so far in 2008, both athletes will try to equal their compatriot and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Nathan Deakes, who won in Tijuana in 2005.
Tunisia's Hatem Ghoula, winner of Africa's first global medal in race walking (third in Osaka 2007), is also on the start list.
Mexico hopes to repeat the same success of 2007, when Omar Segura and Omar Zepeda dominated the 20km and 50km races in Tlalnepantla de Baz, over 2,200m over sea level. The majority of its best specialists completed a fruitful high altitude training camp in Bolivia.
Fourth in Osaka 2007, 21-year-old Eder Sanchez is seen as the country's top bet for the Olympics. He is the only Mexican to win a leg of the IAAF Challenge outside his nation, when he took a surprising victory in Krakow, Poland, in 2007.
Apart from Sanchez, other 20km specialists are 2000 Olympic silver medallist Noe Hernandez, Cristian Berdeja, Erick Guevara, 1996 Olympic bronze medallist Bernardo Segura, Omar Segura, David Mejía and Rodrigo Flores.
Chihuahua will serve as the Mexican qualifier for the 23rd IAAF Race Walking World Cup, to be held in Cheboksary, Russia on 10-11 May.
Horacio Nava, Omar Zepeda and Jesus Sanchez have already secured a spot on the 50km team for the World Cup.
The top two in the 20km will represent Mexico in the World Cup, which will also serve as an Olympic qualifier.
Nava, the 2007 Pan American Games 50km runner-up and sixth place finisher at the 2006 World Cup, is born in Chihuahua as well as 20km specialist Gabriel Ortiz (PB of 1:21:50). Their presence is expected to attract a good crowd along the 2km Pancho Villa course on the División del Norte Avenue.
Quality line-up in the 50Km
In the 50km, Spain's Angel Garcia Bragado has been a consistent competitor in the Mexican leg, the only one where this 50km event is contested.
Garcia, 38, is starting his campaign toward his fifth and last Olympic Games in Beijing. He won in Tijuana in 2003, followed by a second place in 2004 and 2005 and a third in 2006.
He will be challenged by Mexico's Zepeda, 1997 20km world champion Daniel Garcia, 2001 World championships bronze medallist Edgar Hernandez, as well as Claudio Vargas, Jesus Sanchez and other local and foreign contenders.
Turava ready for title defence as international stars converge on Chihuahua
In the women's field, Belarus' 2006 World Cup champion Ryta Turava will be making her debut in Mexico to start her Challenge title defense. Along the 10-loop course, the 27-year old will find a tough opposition from Norway's 2000 Olympic runner-up Kjersti Platzer, winner in Mexico in 2007.
Belarus's Elena Ginko, Portugal's Susana Feitor, Germany's Melanie Seeger, and Italy's 1996 Olympic silver medallist Elizabetta Perrone are also expected to excel on the Chihuahua course.
Seeger won in Mexico in 2005 and Feitor, the 2005 World championships bronze medallist, is back here after finishing third in the Mexican leg in 2003-2005.
El Salvador's Cristina Lopez, the 2007 Pan American Games champion and the only Latino American woman to win a Challenge leg (La Coruña 2005), hopes to follow her more experienced rivals to reach the Olympic qualifying standard.
Some Salvadorans living in the US have even traveled to the border town to encourage their compatriots.
Raul Gonzalez, the 1984 Olympic champion and the head of the race walking commission in the Mexican Athletics Federation (FMA), said that the FMA will pay tribute to Poland's Herzy Hausleber, instrumental in Mexico's early success in race walking since Jose Pedraza's silver medal at the 1968 Olympics.
Mexico has hosted the first leg of the IAAF Challenge since its inception in 2003 was awarded the right to organize in 2010 its first World Cup since 1993. The venue is also in Chihuahua.
The first leg of the Challenge starts on Friday with the 10km junior race, followed by both 20km races on Saturday and the 50km on Sunday.
The seven-event Series will end in September with a Final in a venue to be determined.
Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF
Previous winners of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge:
- 2003 Robert Korzeniowski (POL) / Gillian O'Sullivan (IRL)
- 2004 Robert Korzeniowski (POL) / Elisa Rigaudo (ITA)
- 2005 Francisco Javier Fernández (ESP) / Ryta Turava (BLR)
- 2006 Francisco Javier Fernández (ESP) / Claudia Stef (ROM)
- 2007 Luke Adams (AUS) / Ryta Turava (BLR)
