Caio Bonfim celebrates his win at the Podebrady Walking meeting (© Czech Athletic Federation)
Caio Bonfim and Paula Torres are favourites for the Grande Prémio Internacional de Rio Maior – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting – on Saturday (12), although Kimberly Garcia might have something to say about that.
Garcia, winner of the women’s 20km in Rio Maior last year, is hoping to avenge defeat to Torres in Dudince last month.
Olympic champion Brian Pintado was meant to have toed the line in Dudince, but a slight groin strain put paid to that. Now, the Ecuadoran champion is forced to pull out of this one too. Pintado will undergo surgery in Barcelona for a hip problem this week that leaves the men’s race open to Bonfim and others.
Perseus Karlström, and maybe even rising star Misgana Wakuma, will mount determined challenges to the Brazilian. The last was a creditable sixth at the Paris Olympics with 1:19:31 and a national record. Better still, the Ethiopian is just 20.
World silver medallist Karlstrom posted a speedy 1:18:35 at a super-fast World Race Walking Tour Gold race in Taicang at the beginning of March. Before that, 2:27:20 for 35km in January underlined a solid winter’s training for the Swedish race walker.
Bonfim placed sixth in that race in Taicang, finishing ahead of Karlstrom, and before that in February, the Olympic silver medallist set a Brazilian record of 1:17:37 in the same Kobe race where Toshikazu Yamanishi broke the world record.
Cesar Rodriguez appears ready to get among these. The Peruvian has a 1:18:23 PB from last year, and a competitive fourth-place finish in the Olympic mixed relay where he partnered Garcia.
The supporting cast of Italy’s Gianluca Picchiottino, Ecuador’s Jordy Arobbo, Italy’s Michele Antonelli and Britain’s Callum Wilkinson suggests a healthy throng at the front – at least in the early stages.
João Vieira may not win, but he is almost certain to be the first home-grown athlete across the line – again. The two-time world medallist from Portugal was 49 in February, but even so posted a healthy 1:25:28 last month on home soil.
He’s become the new Jesus Angel Garcia, the Spaniard who kept competing at a high level until he was 51. Supported by wife Vera Santos, who won two World Walking Cup medals, and made two Olympic and six World Championships appearances, Vieira looks more than capable of another two years.
The women’s race is set to be an intriguing battle between Garcia and Torres.
If Torres can reproduce the form shown in Dudince just under a month ago in this race, Garcia is in for a rough ride. In the Slovak spa town, Torres set an Ecuadorian 35km record of 2:44:26 and beat the two-time world champion into a very distant second by 83 seconds.
Laura Garcia-Caro is putting a tentative toe back into international athletics. The Spaniard hopes her one moment of world-wide recognition won’t be looking over her shoulder aghast at the fast-finishing Lyudmyla Olyanovska five metres from the line at last year’s European Championships.
Garcia went viral when celebrating a beat too early and watched open-mouthed as a bronze medal faded to black. Even so, she does have a 1:27:19 PB from last year, and a 2:46:00 35km result from Marin, Spain, in March. It will be safe to assume she will have eyes only for the finish line in Rio Maior.
Vitória Oliveira is the fastest Portuguese entrant, but in 2025 performances is exactly five minutes behind Torres: 1:28:48 to 1:33:48, and even further back on the PBs from Garcia and Garcia-Caro.
