The Valentine's Day run is really for everyone, including SMOLA CHŮZE members - Jaroslav Mojžíš and Elisabet Gomez finished the 5km race together!

The Valentine's Day run really is for everyone. The route is only 5 km long and everyone is a winner this day! That's why a pair of SMOLA CHůZE members Jaroslav Mojžíš - our fitness coach and Elisabet Gomez, who is a complete beginner runner and is currently preparing for the Prague half marathon (April 6.4, concurrent with Poděbrady Walking!), finished the race together in 28:45!

Both of them WARMLY congratulations! 

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Eliška Martínková demonstrated world-class walking, crowned with the best world performance of the year at 3.000m walking 12:32.79!!!, just 4 seconds behind the Czech record!!! Absolutely dominant performance!!! Perfect walking style!!! Absolutely great performance!!! Fantastic result!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! BRAVO!!! BRAVO!!! BRAVO!!!

RESULTS 

Prague's Otakar Jandery Hall hosted on Sunday 11.2. pedestrian championship. Almost the entire elite of pedestrians signed up for the race, so there was much to look forward to.

The female students started the competition day with a 3000 m race. 12 female competitors set off very carefully in the first meters of the race. The girls had considerable respect before the three kilometer distance, which was enhanced by the large number of laps. The lack of indoor racing opportunities for young pedestrians is obvious, they are hard to compare with the idea of ​​so many wheels, even though they are significantly shorter outdoor tracks. One of the biggest favorites, Frýdecká, was at the head of the race from the beginning Victoria Vankova. After the opening kilometer, she already had a lead of more than 5 seconds on the pair of pursuers, her teammate Zvonková and the novice among walkers, Kadaňska Noemi Mayans. She was ahead of Zvonková after six laps and quickly caught up with the leader Vaňková. After several laps side by side, Vaňková broke away from Maják and went for the title. Although Maják fought, in the end she lost to the more experienced Vaňková by 2 seconds. Viktoria Vaňková was rewarded for her performance not only with the title, but also with an OR of 16:48.76. Noemi Maják took silver in her first championship race in a significantly improved personal record of 16:50.84. This competitor presented herself with a really well-mastered technique, and hopefully we will see her among the walkers in Poděbrady at the three kilometer distance. She defended third place Zvonkova in front of her nagging teammate Krausová (17:26.17 vs. 17:26.20). The girls' race foreshadowed a whole series of Frýdek medals for coach Nejezchleb's group. 11 competitors reached the finish line, one was disqualified.

Among the 12 teenage girls, the main favorites were again the walkers from Frýdek together with Dojčárová from Pilsen. Prachatická Kozlová led the first kilometer with a slight lead, but the first kilometer in 5:24 took too much of her strength and she gradually slowed down. Before the halfway point of the race, the favorites picked up the pace and the leading trio went side by side. She attacked hard in the last round Milkmaid from Pilsen and went for the title very aggressively. She and coach Malys were rewarded with a great OR 16:13.88. They added silver and bronze to the Frydek-Místek collection that day Říhová s Kokořová (OR 16:17.84 and 16.24.94). Kozlová, who initially took care of the pace, finished fourth in OR 17:25.20. One competitor was disqualified.

Then the students lined up for the start of the race. All last year's medalists moved to the juniors, so the race was open. A quartet of walkers settled in at the head of the race. Varga from Břeclav paid a heavy price for the overheated pace, who fell from the leading position in the middle of the race, went through a huge crisis and the DQ was a release for him. His effort not to give up the championship race despite the severe cramps he suffered long after the race deserves recognition. Then only the trio fought for medals. For the victory, the title and, above all, the first personal time under 16 minutes, 15:59.75 was achieved by Duchcovský Arnošt A straw man. Pedestrians from Duchcov started appearing among pedestrians in the last year, and this medal is the first swallow on the way to pedestrian laurels. In his second walking start in his life, Porubský improved significantly Hynek Svoboda and with coach Ketner celebrated the performance of 16:03.12. The bronze medal goes by merit Daniela Sister to the Břeclav Lokomotiva Fosfa division (16:49.57). 7 walkers finished the race.

At 11:30 a.m., the juniors and the women took part in the joint race. And it was undoubtedly the most anticipated race of the day, neb Eliska Martínková is in life form. It was really something to see. Eliška flew forward from the start and demonstrated world-class walking. A great technical improvement must be highlighted for this racer. Eliška ran a handsome race that excited the connoisseurs. For those who claim (and unfortunately they were there) that Eliška had no contact, I dare say that she fit into the proclaimed 60 ms. A pace of 4:10/km simply looks different from a six-minute pace. We recommend that all walk judge training graduates go through the WA test videos that we have linked here in the past. Maybe then they will understand what walking according to the rules looks like on a global scale.

Eliška covered the first kilometer in 4:02, which may have cost her a Czech record. Even so, she went to the finish line in OR and the best world performance of the year, when she stopped the clock at 12:32.79. She is 4 seconds short of the legendary Dana Vavřačová's Czech record. A huge congratulations goes to Eliška and we can look forward to what she will show in Poděbrady. We wish you all the best for the Olympic season.

But Eliška also went fantastically. She held second place until the beginning Ema Klimentova, who won the junior title in a large OR 13:16.43. The improvement in speed is an excellent contribution to the spring season, when he will need to significantly accelerate on the 10 km track to advance to the World Junior Championships in Lima.

Another junior was third at the finish line Elisabeth Franklova, who also improved her personal performance to 14:15.59. Bronze among junior women was won by Lucie Krinwaldová from Mladá Boleslav in the first time under 16 min - 15:43.93.

Martínková led the fight with the timer, the other women were at a distance, but their fight did not match Martínková's performance, albeit on a different level. Non-professional female athletes must be evaluated differently.

Mom Štěpánka Pohlová Kučerová (in the photo on the right on the podium together with the winner Martínková) fought very bravely, set the pace for a long time, but eventually lost in the last round to Johana Petříková, who finished hard. She managed to get under 15 minutes - 14:58.67. Štěpánka won the bronze in the post-baby individual 15:05.12 under the supervision of her daughter. Great improvement and times under 16 minutes were shown by the Pilsen girls of coach Malysa Bugárová and Bakliková, followed by Uvírová from Ostrava.

The women's and junior women's race was the performance highlight of the entire racing day, offering beautiful fights and performances at all levels. Bravo.

Then the juniors took part in the first 5000m race together with the adults. This tutorial was also very mixed. From the beginning he went his own way Albert Puppet, which continues to grow under the guidance of Coach Ketner. With a completely dominant and technically impressive performance, he won not only the title, but also a great OR of 21:56.47, which, like Klimentová, is a very good contribution for the spring top ten. As expected, last year's teenager from Frydek won the silver medal Vojtech Novak. He also continues to improve, an improvement of another 40 seconds from MMaS to 23:12.36 is also promising. Hopefully, together with Albert, he will get a chance to start in the national team jersey in Poděbrady and compete against international competition.

Bronze from last year was won by Duklák Wings, who improved by 3 minutes against last year's hall to 26:55.95. Among the juniors, 5 pedestrians saw the finish, one was disqualified.

Five fighters took part in the junior race, when Vejvančický from Rumbur dropped out due to illness.

The biggest favorite, from Liberec Then Mochal, tried to hold Albert Kukla for the first 3 laps, but gradually lost and Novák got ahead of him. An overheated start led to a slow start in the five-minute period, but despite a very painful finish, František Párys's protégé did well and could celebrate another title and a great OR - 23:57.05. For the first time under 24 min. Bravo. A couple followed him in the first kilometer Rösler - A tin can. For them, the first kilometer well under 4:40 was even more deadly and they slowed down significantly. But they tried. Leave 10 seconds slower, maybe they could do it in under 25 minutes. But who doesn't try anything... Rösler from Mladoboleslav showed an indoor personal best of 25:10.47, which meant he won a silver medal. The third Plecháček finished in a total OR of 25:39.90.

The end of the racing day was the start of the men's 5000 m. He was in the lead from the start Vit Head man, behind which the couple was riding Bunny - Gdula. Weakened by covid Moravian, who didn't plan to start until 10 days ago, did start, but his severe illness was evident from the first meters. Moravek was obviously struggling, he was losing to the top three, the fast race was still too early for him and he withdrew from the race halfway through the course. Hlaváč, returning after last year's injury, led the leading group through the first kilometer in 3:59 and continued to set the pace. After 12 laps, Gdul started to lose, while Zajíček took the lead. However, Hlaváč did not let go of him and took the lead back at the fourth kilometer and began to move away from Zajíček. The championship title and the second time in his life sub 20 min - 19:58.44 show that Vítek is on the right path and will try to follow up on a successful season in 2022. The second Zajíček was probably slightly disappointed at the finish line, but the time of 20:09.92 is still 30 seconds behind better than his last year's performances, and Adam thus confirmed his increasing performance and stable performance at the level of just around 20 min. Lukáš Gdula hung the bronze medal around his neck, but he will most likely not be satisfied with the time of 21:03.75. The first kilometers indicated higher ambitions. The veterans Nedvídek and Kolář also presented themselves in good form, when Nedvídek's 22:45.68 in particular will withstand the strictest standards at his age.

We saw wonderful races in the hall, including the world's best performance by Martínková. The coaches (not only) of the national team Čermáková, Ketner, Malysa can be more or less satisfied with the form their wards are in before the approaching season. New faces are appearing among the young pedestrians, and (not only) coach Nejezchleba continues to tirelessly educate more and more pedestrians. It was a joy to watch the fighting performances and enthusiasm of the young people.

Finally, we would like to thank the organizers and judges for their tireless work and unceasing enthusiasm for our discipline.

We look forward to the next meeting with the majority of pedestrians in Poděbrady. Youth coaches can use shorter distances - 3 and 5 km. This time, the closest championship competition will not be the Slovakian Dudince (MČR NA 35 KM will be held in autumn in Zittau), but a 20 km race in Poděbrady. For those for whom 20 km is simply too much, 10m will await at the league competition in Nové mesto on April 000, where the first-ever competitions for the 28.4m walking titles for adults will take place at the same time.

Eliška Martínková is undoubtedly the biggest star of the MČR among those registered. On the contrary, Tereza Ďurdiaková skips the race. That's why Eliška will fight only one opponent and that will be the timer! Will the Czech officials finally wake up from their hibernation and apply the penalty zone, which has been a standard in the world for many years, during this MČR?

REGISTRATION LIST

On the coming weekend, Sunday 11.2. will hold the Czech Republic Walking Championship. As has been the custom for many years, the walkers will share the hall of the Prague Olympus with the all-around athletes.

TD allowed 66 male and female athletes to compete. It can be expected that we will not actually see all the competitors in the hall in the end, because viral diseases are rampant in many regions.

The female students will be the first to start their race at 10:15. Here, 12 girls passed the technical delegate selection. The medals will most likely be shared between Vaňková and Zvonková from Frýdek, whose dominance of the race can be disrupted by Kadaň's Noemi Maják.

Even the teenager should be 12 at the start. Traditional medal contenders from Frýdek-Místek Říhová and Kokořová will fight for a medal with coach Malysa Dojčárová, who is significantly improving from Pilsen. Last year in the hall, she still walked at the limit of 19 minutes, but her significant performance shift with a time of 16:36 ranks her among the candidates for a medal. We'll see if Bartoňová, another girl from Frýdeč, who attacked the 16-minute mark last year, but hasn't gotten below 17 minutes this year, will speak to the fight.

Shortly after 11 a.m., 9 students will stand on the starting line. Last year's medalists moved to the juniors, and Arnošt Slaměník from Duchc is the biggest favorite to win the title. About 15 seconds behind are Myška from Frýdek and Herman from Břeclav with their best performances. For the competitors, it would be a great success to get closer to the 16 min mark.

The highly anticipated joint women's and junior women's race will start at 11:30 a.m. Junior girls will start 4.

The clear favorite is Ema Klimentová, who has already performed sub 14 and has a top ten finish in Antalya, Turkey. Frankl's silver position should also be a clear matter. Krinwaldová and Kyselicová will fight for bronze. Kyselicová improved to 16:33 this year, Krinwaldová has not yet competed indoors, last year she was bronze with a performance of 16:06.

However, what fans of walking look forward to almost the most on race day is the start of the women's race. Eliška Martínková is registered there (on the photo from Antalya with starting number 20), who attacked the Czech record of Dana Vavřačová at the New Year's Hall and we will all be in curious anticipation of what form Martínková will be in at the start of the race. She has a great performance in Antalya and her start will definitely be the highlight of Sunday's race.  Along with Eliška, 6 other women will take part in the race, but they will fight far behind the Czech star. One of the medal candidates is Štěpánka Pohlová-Kučerová, but Petříková and Bugárová from Pilsen are improving this year. The name of another representative, Tereza Ďurdiaková, is missing from the start list. Unlike Eliška, the Turkish race did not go well and we will not see her at the championship race.

Adults and juniors will also run the joint race. 5000m awaits these competitors. Among the 6 registered teenagers, Matěj Piták is missing from those included in the representative selections. Last year's students Mochal - Rösler - Plecháček will fight for the medals. The biggest favorite to win the title is the Liberec ward tr. Paris Dan Mochal.

Albert Kukla should dominate the junior race (5). He is the only one this year to have clocked under 23 minutes. From his point of view, it is a bit of a shame that the juniors will not enter the competition with the men, because Kukla could go out with one of our veteran competitors. His biggest rival should be last year's teenager Vojtěch Novák from Frýdek. He improved to 23:52 this year and will surely want to improve this time. The other juniors already have significantly slower performances and will rather compete with the junior medalists. Peroutek showed great improvement in the triple and is most likely the biggest candidate for bronze.

If the fans are excited about Eliška Martínková's performance in the triple, they probably have even greater expectations for the men's race. We all know what to expect from Martínková (and the author of the text is really looking forward to her performance). For men, the situation is different and not only a beautiful fight for medals is expected, but also performances of sub 20 min. 11 walkers signed up. Defending champion Vít Hlaváč will not be missing at the start. In the past season, he labored with hamstring problems, MS did not affect him and he finished the injury. He will come to the race straight from the training camp in Melago, Italy, and he will certainly not be in an easy position. Last year's silver medalist Adam Zajíček has improved by 40 seconds this year and will go to the start encouraged by a quality solo performance from Ostrava, where he performed 2 seconds better than Hlaváč's OR (19:55) from 2021. Last year's fastest Czech 20 km walker will also be at the start Jaromír Morávek (whom Zajíček stepped on the heels of). Although he was ill in preparation and we will see in what form he will start, but there is still something to look forward to. To the delight of the fans, Lukáš Gdula will also be present at the start. This year, after many years, he dropped out of the national team selection, but after a not very successful season, he obviously didn't resent it, he trained with Hlaváč in Cyprus and the Dolomites, and we'll see if he won't be able to grab one of the medals at the expense of the emerging youth. If there were referees in the race, then the pair Kolář - Nedvídek could wait for the hesitation of one of the favorites.

The propositions do not state that the zone penalty rule should not be applied. If a PZ was created (I wish it would, it's been a standard in the world for many years) and someone from the fastest four had to use it, then the theoretical 30 sec penalty could add another element of excitement to an already tense race.

In conclusion, it is still necessary to emphasize the limitations to which Olymp Praha has approached. Most of the competitors will have to find parking nearby, so at least for Prague athletes it will be better to arrive by public transport.

We will pass beautiful races to all pedestrians and we are very much looking forward to your performances. For those who cannot make it to the hall, a stream will be available on the ČAS Facebook page.  

Not only did the World Race Walking Tour Bronze level race take place in Guadix, Spain last weekend, but the day before the race, a webinar was held literally from the scene for athletic walking enthusiasts, officials, coaches and the athletes themselves.

The webinar was organized by World Athletics and hosted by none other than WA's Pierce O'Callaghan in collaboration with Luis Saladie who will be the technical delegate for Paris. As a TD, he mainly answered the questions of the participants in the chat.

The webinar consisted of three parts:

Part 1: Olympic relay - rules and information (we do not present the entire content of the webinar, only new information):

as known the relay will be the length of a marathon race - 42 m. The race at the Olympic Games will take place under the iconic Eiffel Tower on Martové polých, which will provide a beautiful backdrop for all the walking competitions.

The relay was chosen for one reason only. The Olympic Committee insisted on equal disciplines for men and women. The unattractiveness of the 50 km race and the low numbers of participants worldwide led to the change to 35 km. Even so, the OH committee made a request for a team competition. If that wasn't created, there would be only one walking discipline at the Olympics. The thing didn't cost 35 versus the relay. It was a relay race or nothing. The choice was more or less clear, if WA wanted to keep 2 pedestrian disciplines. And although the initial reactions of the pedestrians were quite pessimistic, the news from the world, where the athletes tried the novelty, is quite positive, the competitors like the new format and from the spectator's point of view it will be an interesting spectacle.

The race will be run by a team consisting of a man and a woman and they will divide between themselves 4 sections in the order M - F - M - F.

Each competitor must run at least 20 km. Although, due to the prescribed length of pedestrian circuits of length 1 or 2 km offers that the length of the sections is 11 195 - 11 - 10 -10, this will not be the case. The exact length of the sections depends on where the organizers can build facilities for rest / tune-up for the athletes waiting for the next section. In this part, which is very demanding on prosor, everything that is allowed in multi-competition competitions will be allowed. In both Paris and the qualifying Antalya, there will be tubs of ice water, athletes can refresh themselves, get a massage and if someone can do it during the three quarters of an hour, they can even take a nap.

Due to the given parameter, the first sections in Paris and Antalya will be different. The lengths of the sections will be as follows:

Paris 11.395 - 10 - 10 - 10,8

Antalya 12.195 - 10 - 10 - 10

As already known, 22 teams will advance from Antalya, while 5 countries can get 2 participation places. Subsequently, 3 teams will be added to the starting list according to the current world ranking:

https://worldathletics.org/stats-zone/road-to/7153115?eventId=10230211

For the relay outside the webinar:

The qualification period ends on 30.6. 2024. If any country, including ours, would like to repair Antalya and try to get a participation place in the Olympics through the world ranking, it is necessary to think and plan ahead at this moment. Tracks of the type used in last year's race in Nové Pács will not pass the world rankings. The race must be entered in the calendar no later than 60 days before it takes place and there must be at least 3 referees of international level. Time will tell whether the Czech relay team has a chance to participate. At this moment we can be pleased that participant of the Olympic Games is Eliška Martínková. She is currently 33 (48 female competitors) and de facto it is enough for her to win the championship in Poděbrady. Then it would be logical to try a relay with someone from the trio Hlaváč - Morávek - Zajíček (alphabetically). The potential Czech relay would most likely be on the edge of the promotion places in Antalya. Logically, it is suggested to try for the Olympics despite the ranking and prepare a race to be sure. You can always cancel it. The next months will show what the strategy of the Czech national team will be. For men, this is probably the only chance to watch the Olympics. The extremely difficult OH limit of 1:20:10 has already been met by 35 walkers at the moment, leaving only 13 places to participate via the ladder. Our men would have to improve significantly and run at least 3 really fast races in the spring months (in the case of Morávek and Zajíček, 2 would be enough). Realistically, the participation of our men is more likely at the EC in Rome, but even that would be a great success, given the low number of starting places (35). For women, the situation is easier, the limit of 1:29:20 has been met by only 20 women, so there are still more places left for female fighters on the ladder. There will be plenty to see in Antalya.

2nd part: the webinar was dedicated to the presentation of the WC walking teams in Antalya on 21.4. 2024:

The track of the WC race will be located at the Expo in Antalya, and fans can use the tram connection from the center and the airport. The tram stop is right in front of the Expo entrance. The day before the championship itself, with truly traditional test races. A 3 km race will be prepared for the youth, while veteran athletes will be able to complete a 5 km race. There is no link for registering for the race yet, we will inform you when it is available.

Part 3: Judging of walking competitions:

Last year WA held a series of online training sessions for new gait judges. For the first time, training videos were used where the Budapest races were broken down. The referees thus received feedback on their work for the first time in history. And it was not a positive assessment. Unfortunately, the referees have so far allowed a number of mistakes to pass, which has led to very fast times in recent years, but, from a layman's point of view, it was not good for walking.

Training of new referees, more frequent work with the existing ones, all this should lead to significantly more accurate decisions. Given that the race in Antalya will also be recorded and subsequently analyzed by Jeff Salvag from the USA, it is most likely clear how the decisions will be made in Antalya. If the referee has doubts and turned a blind eye earlier, today he is more likely to make a motion for exclusion. It does not mean that the competitors will go out wrongly, but where previously, according to the video, a clear violation of the rules passed, this will most likely not happen. And it will harden over time, all championship races will be recorded and evaluated.

According to expert measurements, the flight phase visible to the human eye occurs somewhere between 40 - 45 milliseconds.

The loss of contact will officially be considered for the evaluation of the work of the referees from what is over 60 ms.

What is interesting then is the promotion of knee braces. Everything from 174º should pass for the judges. However, anything below this level is a valid disqualification.

The message from the webinar is thus clear for competitors. Technique, technique, technique. That is the direction WA wants to go.

Whether a similar style of decision-making will be reflected in our races is a question. Unfortunately, referee training is not very frequent. We now have 2 judges on the international panel - Nedvídek, Lapka. Both mentioned have already received invitations to international competitions. Most recently, Martin Nedvídek will also referee at the European Championship U18 in Banská Bystrica, and M. Lapka is TD for Dudinc (golden race). Hopefully, our judges will prepare articles or webinars about their experiences from international competitions and pass on their experiences.

What should the two gentlemen on the panel help to enforce (as well as the union), je setting up a penalty zone. In the past, M. Lapka presented this, which is now more of an old thing than a new thing, to the pedestrian public in his articles, stating that WA promotes the application of PZ at all races. It doesn't happen after sin. At last year's MČR, the reason for not establishing a PZ was the alleged financial burden of this rule. However, we rightly believe that it is more about the inexperience of the Czech organizers and the reluctance to implement something new. What is really needed at PZ? 2 young assistants or referees of the 3rd class. Two stopwatches. After all, the number of visitors to the PZ is not so high that more is needed. And 6 cones or other marks used for children's training, with which PZ is distinguished. The first opportunity to use PZ will be this Sunday. And in the hall, with a 30-s penalty, it would be a more than interesting element.

M35 Linke's world record at 3.000m - 10:44.00 (WR) in Erfurt, great Czaková at 5.000m - 21:28.80 (PB) and excellent Úradník - 19:32.30 (PB) in Bratislava and finally Olympic winner Palmisanová at 10km - 44 :02 in Guadix, Spain.

Slovak neighbors currently have 3 pedestrians who are able to walk in less than 20 minutes, and hopefully we will be able to say the same after the upcoming MČR!!!

Even the past weekend brought, from a pedestrian's perspective, a whole series of interesting and fantastic performances. There are!!!

ERFURT - international meeting, 2.2.2024:

RESULTS

German pedestrians detonated the resulting bomb on Friday evening. At the traditional international meeting of the bronze level in Erfurt, the German walking elite presented themselves in the 3000 m race.

The Germans took the race as a test after returning from training in South Africa and performed really well.

German record holder Christopher Linke set the pace from the start. This competitor, born in 1988, entered the M35 category last year and also set a world record for this age category of 11:07 in Erfurt. The Olympic Games are a huge motivation for all athletes, and this can be seen in the performances already in the indoor season. Linke flew through the track in a huge personal record, a meeting record, but above all he again improved the world best performance of M35 - 10:44.00. However, he still lacks Tom Bosworth's (UK) absolute world record of 10:30.28. However, Karl Junghannß is also excellently prepared, he breathed on Linke's back and at the finish line he too could rejoice at a performance under 11 minutes in a time of 10:48.79. Olympic medalist Jonathan Hilbert finished third in 11:27.98, who is slowly returning to the track after a series of injuries and mental burnout. A very interesting performance was performed by the youth European champion Frederic Weigel. The son of a famous father and trainer crossed the finish line in 11:59.46 in fifth place.

Slovak Championship, Bratislava, February 3.2.2024, XNUMX:

RESULTS

On Saturday, the Slovak national championship took place in the Elán sports hall in Bratislava.

Among the teenagers, 16 girls started and all the medalists broke the 15-minute mark. The winner was Petra Kusá, who already came very close to the 14-minute mark - 14:09.65, in a personal record.

The junior race was clearly dominated by Lukáš Rosenbaum, who very narrowly missed the mark of 13 min - 13:03.88. Even the second finisher, Mažgút, was able to get under 14 minutes - 13:40.46.

For the women's competition, the Slovak officials announced an unconventional 5m. We have repeatedly appreciated here how extremely well-thought-out and sophisticated the Slovak coaches are in the fight for (not only) Olympic points in the world rankings. From this point of view, the inclusion of a distance of 000 m was hardly surprising. The five is counted in the scored distances for a distance of 5000 km. Therefore, those who strive for points for the European Championship or the Olympic Games have a chance to win valuable plus points for the championship competition over a shorter distance. The race must be registered in the WA calendar and supervised by at least 20 judges of international level.

The juniors also joined the women at the start. Right from the start, coach Matej Spišiak's mentee Mária Katarinka Czaková set the pace of the race. She is currently ranked 38 (there are 48 female walkers traveling to the Olympics) and a quality performance could move her to a more secure qualifying position. And the excellently prepared Czaková performed it. She reached the finish line in a time well below the planned performance and thanks to the result of 21:28.80 she can enjoy not only the title, but above all a shift in the ranking.

Hana Burzalová also came far behind Czaková in a quality time, who became the domestic number one during Czaková's maternity break and last year, after returning from training in Australia, she showed significant performance progress. The time 22:37.71 definitely belongs to the quality ones. Klauda Žďárská took third place after last year's not-quite-successful season with a performance of 10 seconds under 23 minutes.

A high-quality performance and medals will surely be an encouragement for her for the next season.

An attack on ranking points was also expected among the men. In the absence of the best Slovak pedestrian Dominko Černý, Miroslav Úradník clearly won the title. He is moving just behind the advancing group at the OH and needed a performance of around 19:15.00 to advance. Although this did not come true for him, he still set a personal record and 19:32.30 is definitely a performance that we would like for our pedestrians as well. In the shadow of Úradník's performance, Michal Morvay also managed an excellent time under the magical 20-minute mark. He can definitely be satisfied with his personal performance of 19:54.13.   

Slovak neighbors currently have 3 pedestrians who are able to walk in less than 20 minutes, and hopefully we will be able to say the same about us after the upcoming MČR.

GUADIX - bronze meeting Pedestrian Tour - 4.2.2024

RESULTS

In Guadix, Spain, the traditional bronze meeting of the Pedestrian Tour took place on Sunday. In this area at this time the weather is suitable and even the best pedestrians choose the races for the performance test.

However, the races are primarily a competition of a huge number of child walkers. Anyone who has seen videos of dozens of children rushing down the track at short distances knows exactly why Spain is a walking superpower.

The women's 10 km race was dominated by the Italian Olympic champion Antonella Palmisano - 44:02. She recently tried a walking relay.

Her compatriot Francesco Fortunato won the men's 10 km competition - 40:18. He too has completed the relay test in Italy and the Italians will definitely be the ones who will strive for 2 pedestrian teams at the start of the OH competition.