Brian Pintado in Rio Maior (© Organisers)
Two Olympic gold medallists go toe to toe in the second World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of the year on Saturday (22).
Brian Pintado and Massimo Stano face off in the men’s 35km at the spa town of Dudince in Slovakia and it is a tasty treat for fans knowing they could end up close to the world record set by Masatora Kawano in October.
The Japanese athlete recorded 2:21:47 in Takahata, but with the Ecuadorian and Italian athletes on the line, it might depend on how much winter training Pintado has under his belt following a prolonged lay-off in the wake of an Olympic gold in Paris at 20km.
However, he did stroll home in 2:31:56 at the Ecuador Championships in February, which was still good enough for 10th on this year’s fastest times so far.
Stano, the previous Olympic 20km winner in Sapporo, has likewise shown good form with a 1:18:28 20km in the first Gold race of the World Race Walking Tour at the beginning of March.
That form owes much to training with the new world record-holder, Toshikazu Yamanishi, in Japan at the beginning of the year.
The reported pace of the two while working out drew an intake of breath from those watching.
In fact, Stano himself was on world record pace in Taicang before fading, if that’s the right world, to seventh in a super-fast race where 20 got under 1:20:00.
Behind both, expect Italy’s Andrea Agrusti, India’s Ram Baboo and Germany’s Christopher Linke to be with the leaders for the opening salvo.
In the women’s 35km, it’s a return for Kimberly Garcia to the town where she broke the world record in 2023.
That superlative 2:37:44, a win by more than two minutes from Olympic gold medallist Liu Hong, didn’t last long, however.
Spain’s Maria Perez, herself a double world champion and Olympic marathon relay gold medallist, hacked off another 39 seconds just a couple of months later.
Now, Garcia is back in Dudince hoping to make the cut for Peru’s 35km team in Tokyo and this year’s World Championships.
It’s fair to say the last 12 months have not been as productive as the two years before that.
Garcia had to settle for 16th in the 20km at the Paris Olympics and a share of fourth in the marathon relay with Cesar Rodriguez, who incidentally won last year’s 20km in Dudince in a national record.
Little has been seen of Garcia since, and she faces an intriguing battle with Viviane Lyra and Alegna Gonzalez, dipping her toe into uncharted waters.
This will be a 35km debut for the Mexican who boasts a 20km PB of 1:26:57 from last year and has a collection of fourths and fifths in major championships since 2023.
Lyra knows all about the 35km. The Brazilian was an honourable fourth at World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 and her 2:44:40 PB is under threat.
In the same way Garcia found 2024 a task, Katarzyna Zdzieblo’s star has waned since claiming double silver at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 22.
Even so, the Pole with a PB of 2:40:03 from that Oregon race might yet offer Garcia a challenge with both untested so far in 2025.
In contrast to 2024, the 20km races are more muted.
Finland’s Veli-Matti Partanen has the best PB in the men’s entry of 1:18:22 from Budapest in 2023, closely followed by Ricardo Ortiz of Mexico with 1:18:31 from La Coruna in 2024, but also with a 1:25:00 on home soil just two weeks ago.
Ireland’s David Kenny with a PB of 1:19:44 from 2022, but a more recent 1:22:41 from early February in Spain, should keep the first two company.
Time wise in the women’s 20km there’s nobody close to Italians Nicole Colombi and Eleonora Giorgi.
The latter walked a PB of 2:41:54 for 35km in Turkiye at the end of February, but has chosen the shorter distance here.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the 35-year-old walked a national record of 1:26:17, and six since Giorgi was third in the heat-sapping 50km World Championships in Doha.
Colombi’s PB is a more modest 1:30:24, but still 40 seconds quicker than Mexico’s Karla Serrano – third ranked in the small field of 12.
This is the second year of a 1km lap in the shape of a fluttering flag with a loop on the end of the ‘staff’ as opposed to straight up and down circuits favoured by other World Tour races.
Flags will be flying for winners and maybe judges too as they attempt to keep focused on the four major race starts, the first at 8.30am local time (7.30am GMT), and nine races in total.
Once again Dudince provides something for every age group from six years old to 76 and beyond.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
