DUDINSKÁ 50 BEHIND THE DOOR. THE CZECH PREMIERE OF THE NEW WALKING DISCIPLINE - MIXED PAIRS RELAY WILL BE PRESENTED BY: Štěpánka Pohlová-Kučerová / Rostislav Kolář and Nelly Bugárová / Alexandr Malysa

In just a few days, on Saturday 16.3. the competitors will start on the new Dudinské padesátky track. After many years, the main course will not be the longest walking distance (currently 35 km), but it will be the Olympic twenty. In the same way, the Czech championship will not be held in Dudince after many years. The 20 km race will be hosted by the spa town of Poděbrady in a few weeks, while the 35 km championship will be held by AC Rumburk in Zittau, Germany, in the fall.

Dudinský závod is a traditional golden meeting and the starting list includes more than 200 pedestrians who will try the new track, which should be more pleasant for pedestrians, because there will only be one 180 turnº.

For the first time, the walking Olympic relay will take place in Dudince (start at 9:00 a.m.). Surprisingly, only 4 relays will use the chance to try a new discipline. It is probably due to the fact that the Italians, Spaniards and Chinese have already had their qualifying race for Antalya, and the next sharp starts will be in Turkey. The relay team of Greece, Croatia and 2 Czech teams will be presented in Dudince. On paper, the pair Rostislav Kolář - Štěpánka Pohlová Kučerová is stronger, the second Czech pair is Nelly Bugárová - Alex Malysa. One of the best Czech relay teams will set a Czech record on Saturday. The women's performance is similar, so the difference will be mainly in the men's pair. Both pairs deserve credit for being willing to try a new race. 

It will be raced at distances of 11,195 km (M) - 10 km (W) - 11 km (M) - 10 km (W).

Together with the OH relay, only four pedestrians will start with 35 km. The low participation is understandable, at the moment they are fighting for the OH and the top is focused on shorter distances.

In the women's 20 km race, Eliška Martínková will be among the 40 competitors, winner of the bronze race in Turkey, who is currently ranked 35th in the Olympic rankings. 48 female walkers will start in Paris. A solid performance can give Eliška OH confidence. Surprisingly, another Czech pedestrian, Tereza Ďurdiaková, is missing from the starting list, who needs to pass either a sharp limit for a chance at the Olympics (1:29:20), or 3 really fast races. The biggest favorites are to be found among South American women - Kimberly Garcia, De Sena and others. However, Martínková is certainly not without a chance for high points. The quartet of domestic athletes will start: Burzalová, Hačundová, Ragasová, Žárská. Slovakia's best female walker, Czaková, is in 33rd place in the Olympic rankings and is thus in a significantly better position against her colleagues. The race starts at 10:50.

At the same time, 20 men will start their 53km race. He will not be missing among them Vítek Hlaváč, who needs to significantly improve his personal record in order to start at the EC or Olympics. He demonstrated his return to form from 2022 in the hall this year and will definitely not want to give the position of the Czech number one to the young wolves for free. An Olympian will also be present at the start Lukáš Gdula, walking coach Karel Ketner and Filip Kaštovský. Competitors from India have recorded excellent times, we will see if they can stand up technically. Among the biggest favorites are Finn Partanen, Ecuadorian Chocho and a whole host of great South American fighters. No one is missing from the home runners - Černý, Úradník, Morvay will strive for OH points and a chance to start at the European Championship, young Mencel with Duda and veteran Rízek will also make an appearance.

The numerous starting field will set off at 9:00 a.m. as part of the 10 km race. Our youngsters - Jaromír Morávek and Adam Zajíček they will test their speed in front of Podebrady in the U23 race. Their performance rarely remains balanced. Although Zaječek has the upper hand after the hall (he won silver and has 2 times of around 20 minutes), Moravek did not finish there after a long covid. He demonstrated his return to form during a recent solo race in Trnava, where he walked 5 km alone in 20:13, and behind the scenes there is talk of a technically excellent performance by this pedestrian. However, only Saturday's race will show whether he is ready for a longer distance.

Among the juniors, two of our representatives - Albert Kukla and Vojtěch Novák - will be in the top ten. Both showed improvement in the hall and we can look forward to their race. We have to look for the biggest favorites among the Mexicans and we will see what international competition will drive our fighters to.

We will also have our representation in the juniors. Above all, Ema Klimentová will try to approach the nomination criteria for the MSJ in Lima (47:00), Alžběta Franklová will strive for the first time at the level of 50 min. Klimentová, together with the Mexican Cortes, will be among the favorites.

Uvírová from Ostrava and Bakliková from Pilsen will compete in the U23 category.

At 10:00 a.m., the teenage girls set off for their 5 km race. Pilsen indoor champion Dojčárová and Frýdek Říhová they will represent the Czech colors.

Among the teenagers, Dan Mochal from Liberec, Plecháček from Turnov and Vojtěch Vejvančický from Rumbur will try to compete with international competition. The main favorites are the local Bátovský and Mažgút.

They will also have a joint start with the five boys and girls for 3 km. Frýdecký Myška together with pedestrian novice Hynk Svoboda  should dominate this race.

Zvonková, Vaňková, Krasulov from Frýdek will present themselves among the studentsá and it is gratifying that after the medal from the MČR in the hall, he will also try the international level Noemi Maják from Kadaň. Some of our girls could fight for the podium, but it will definitely not be easy.

However, the list of Czech tracks in the Dudin race is far from over. As we have already reported in the past, after successfully passing the international exams, Martin Nedvídek from Rumburk will appear in the field of judges, and Míla Lapka was appointed WA's technical delegate.

We wish all our representatives great experiences and, above all, performances that will move them forward.