Türkiye Race Walking Championships (World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze) + U18/U20, Konyaalti Boulvared ANTALYA/TUR, JANUARY 20, 2024
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On Saturday 20.1. Turkey's Antalya hosted the first bronze meeting of the Pedestrian World Tour this year.
At the start of the first race, 19 women and two men, who tried the OH relay race, lined up. Right from the start, the petite Turkish pedestrian from the city of Diyarbakir, Meryem Bekmez, set off at a very sharp pace. The first kilometer in 4:26 showed how fast the race will be in Antalya. The Turkish competitor was eager to secure a start at the Olympics and also to show a performance that will encourage her ahead of the World Team Walking Championships, which will be hosted by the Turkish seaside resort.
Most of the female competitors stayed together for the first kilometer and a half (4:44), the group was led by Czaková (SVK), who was subsequently replaced by our Martínková. After about 800 m, one of the stray dogs decided to join the female competitors at the turn, which in Turkey is nothing less than a kangal cut by a street mix, while it is definitely not a pug in terms of size, so the female competitors probably got quite stiff. The organizers quickly drove the dog away, which they had to do several times during the race. Fortunately, during the World Championships in April, the circuit will be surrounded by fences, so street crumbs should not get under the competitors' feet.
Behind Turkyní, the Czech competitor Eliška Martínková held on to second place from the start.
Surprisingly, the Kazakh competitor Morozova set the pace with her for the first few kilometers. Her OR from last year was 1:36:42 and she was definitely not one of the favorites.
In fourth place, Mária Katarinka Czaková from Slovakia, the winner from Dublin in December, set her own pace. Czaková carried on her back another Czech athlete, Olympian and tenth from the World Championships in Budapest at 35 km, Tereza Ďurďiaková.
Meryem Bekmez and Eliška Martínková, both kept intermediate times above or just below the 4:30/km pace level. And both had a technically very, very handsome race indeed. The Turkish woman visited the penalty zone in Poděbrady last year, Martínková was disqualified at the ME U 23. However, both competitors did a lot of work over the winter and entered the new season with technically confident performances, which were a joy to watch.
Looking at the distance between Bekmez and Martínková, the race was consistent up to 15 km. After fifteen kilometers, however, the Turkish woman started to slow down and was no longer able to get out of a major crisis. It Martínková continued to keep the pace, she was able to get under 4:30, and in Turkyna she reached 2 laps before the finish line and gradually moved away from her. In the last kilometer she still managed to finish (4:22) and crossed the finish line in a great personal record of 1:30:08 and at the finish line she could rejoice at a great performance together with her coach K. Čermáková. Both can say that they got the most out of the December training camp in Tenerife. By winning the OR, Eliška will improve significantly in the OH rankings. Before the race, she was 40th, and that definitely did not guarantee her safety at the Olympics (48 female walkers). After this race, he will jump significantly in the rankings and can slowly start planning the trip to Paris in August. CONGRATULATIONS ELIŠCA!!!!
Czaková gradually worked her way up to third place at a fairly consistent pace. For the first 9 km, she carried Terka Ďurdiaková on her back, whose display of strength lacked lightness. After 9km, Tereza dropped out, Czaková overtook the Kazakh pedestrian during the next kilometer (she showed OR sub 1:34:05)) and reached the third podium in bronze meetings in a row! She also took another important step in the fight for the Olympics.
Tereza Ďurdiaková after letting go of the Slovakian, she stopped at the side of the road and even though she then returned to the race for a few more kilometers, she did not see the finish line and thus adding another DNF. If he wants to fight for further participation under the Olympic rings, he must perform very well in the spring in Dudince, Poděbrady and at the WC in Antalya. Unfortunately, she has only one top 1 finish in the last year, when she finished second in Gdańsk, Poland, but her performance of 34:58:XNUMX will not get her to the Olympics.
In the men's 20 km race (15 starters), the local Mazlum Demir dictated the pace from the start of the race, and the Slovak walker Miroslav Úradník kept up with him for 9 km. The Turk also achieved a new OR of 1:23:04 for a clear victory.
The second Official lost to him by 46 seconds, but another place on the podium in the bronze meeting and, above all, a move in the Olympic qualification, counts. The first start of last year's third junior Poděbrad H. Yildiz was interesting, he started his career among men with fourth place behind his training colleague Şenodunec in the new OR at a distance of 20 km. At the age of 20, he can be expected to improve on this excellent time of 1:25:44 in future races.
The start of the young competitors in the 10 km was marked by very heavy rain. During the race, it stopped raining, but the youth certainly did not have an easy race.
Among the juniors, domestic athlete Mehmet Güngör won, who improved from last year by about 15 seconds to 43:14. What some juniors did in the rain for the first 10 minutes (running around, unsupported knees) is rarely seen.
Among the juniors, Kateřina Čermáková's other protégé, Ema Klimentová, led the starting field from the start. She coped with the weather changes excellently and started the season with a victory and a great time of 48:30. It is her second best performance, when she was only 15 seconds behind OR from last year's super fast Poděbrady. Bravo. Alžběta Franklová came fourth, who tried to hang in a group with Klimentová for the first 3 km, but in the fourth kilometer she already went over 5 minutes and finished the race in 51:13, her second best top ten performance.
The Turkish World Walking Tour is behind us, and other big races are waiting for not only our competitors, probably in Dudince, Slovakia. And as you can see, there will be plenty to see.
