Taicang, China, May 05-06—Japan and China dominated the by-nation competitions at the World Walking Team Championships, each picking off a pair of wins. Japan won both men’s titles, the hosts both of the women’s. Japan also claimed both men’s individual titles, while China had to settle for just one of the women’s.
A Chinese star provided the most fireworks, however, her 4:04:36 taking 1:20 off the women’s 50K World Record as the event is still in its formative stages.
It was quite a 50K debut for 23-year-old Rui Liang, who had never before raced farther than 35K but had a solid 20K PR of 1:28:43 set in ’16.
World champ/WR holder Inês Henriques of Portugal was among the early leaders, but dropped out before the 30K point. That left a lead group of 4, including Liang, who moved away smartly in the final 20K.
“I chose to follow the others at the start to save my energy and then waited for the right moment to break away,” said Liang. “It was after passing 40km that I realized I could break the World Record. At that time I felt I still had energy in reserve and could speed up further.”
— WORLD TEAM WALKS MEN’S RESULTS —
Taicang, China, May 05-06 (5/5—50W)—
20W Teams: 1. Japan 12; 2. Italy 29; 3. China 42; 4. Ecuador 47; 5. Spain 49; 6. Germany 89; 7. Mexico 110; 8. France 124; 9. Ukraine 125; 10. South Africa 127.
Individuals: 1. Koki Ikeda (Jpn) 1:21:13; 2. Kaihua Wang (Chn) 1:21:22; 3. Massimo Stano (Ita) 1:21:33 PR; 4. Toshikazu Yamanishi (Jpn) 1:21:53; 5. Brian Pintado (Ecu) 1:22:21; 6. Xiangqian Jin (Chn) 1:22:35; 7. Isamu Fujisawa (Jpn) 1:22:54; 8. Álvaro Martín (Spa) 1:23:22; 9. Francesco Fortunato (Ita) 1:23:31; 10. Manuel Esteban Soto (Col) 1:23:34;
11. Hagen Pohle (Ger) 1:23:44; 12. Eider Arévalo (Col) 1:23:46; 13. Mauricio Arteaga (Ecu) 1:23:49; 14. Tom Bosworth (GB) 1:23:54; 15. Lebogang Shange (SA) 1:23:56; 16. Vasiliy Mizinov (Rus) 1:23:56; 17. Giorgio Rubino (Ita) 1:24:03; 18. Eiki Takahashi (Jpn) 1:24:07; 19. Miguel Ángel López (Spa) 1:24:08; 20. Ivan Losev (Ukr) 1:24:14;
… 42. Emmanuel Corvera (US) 1:28:05;… 66. John Cody Risch (US) 1:32:06;… dnf—Érick Barrondo (Gua), Dane Bird-Smith (Aus), Zelin Cai (Chn).
50W Teams: 1. Japan 6; 2. Ukraine 29; 3. Poland 37; 4. China 37; 5. Spain 67; 6. Germany 74; 7. Italy 76; 8. Sweden 86.
Individuals: 1. Hiroki Arai (Jpn) 3:44:25; 2. Hayato Katsuki (Jpn) 3:44:31 PR; 3. Satoshi Maruo (Jpn) 3:44:52; 4. Maryan Zakalnytskyy (Ukr) 3:44:59 PR; 5. Qin Wang (Chn) 3:45:29 PR; 6. Rui Wang (Chn) 3:48:01 PR; 7. Rafał Augustyn (Pol) 3:48:22; 8. Perseus Karlström (Swe) 3:48:54; 9. Quentin Rew (NZ) 3:48:58; 10. Ivan Banzeruk (Ukr) 3:49:17;
11. Rafał Sikora (Pol) 3:49:54; 12. Evan Dunfee (Can) 3:50:18; 13. Dzmitry Dziubin (Blr) 3:52:25 PR; 14. Michele Antonelli (Ita) 3:53:00; 15. Valeriy Litanyuk (Ukr) 3:53:05 PR; 16. Bernando Uriel Barrondo (Gua) 3:53:10 PR; 17. Brendan Boyce (Ire) 3:53:32; 18. Jesús Ángel García (Spa) 3:53:48; 19. Adrian Błocki (Pol) 3:54:31; 20. Nathaniel Seiler (Ger) 3:54:54 PR;… 44. Anthony Gruttadauro (US) 4:16:23 PR;… 46. Matthew Forgues (US) 4:18:17;… dnf—Nick Christie (US).
WORLD WALKS WOMEN’S RESULTS
20W Teams: 1. China 17; 2. Italy 38; 3. Spain 40; 4. Ukraine 69; 5. Colombia 82; 6. Lithuania 85; 7. Japan 119; 8. France 134; 9. Germany 134; 10. Portugal 135; 11. India 136; 12. United States 150.
Individuals 1. Maria Guadalupe González (Mex) 1:26:38; 2. Shenjie Qieyang (Chn) 1:27:06; 3. Jiayu Yang (Chn) 1:27:22; 4. Erica de Sena (Bra) 1:28:11; 5. Eleonora Giorgi (Ita) 1:28:31; 6. Anežka Drahotová (CzR) 1:28:40; 7. María Pérez (Spa) 1:28:50 PR; 8. Kimberley García (Per) 1:28:56 NR; 9. Inna Kashyna (Ukr) 1:28:58 PR; 10. Brigita Virbalytė-Dimsienė (Lit) 1:29:02 PR;
11. Nadiya Borovska (Ukr) 1:29:28; 12. Na Wang (Chn) 1:29:35; 13. Yingliu Wang (Chn) 1:29:36; 14. Laura García-Caro (Spa) 1:29:58; 15. Sandra Arenas (Col) 1:30:11; 16. Valentina Trapletti (Ita) 1:30:19 PR; 17. Antonella Palmisano (Ita) 1:30:29; 18. Ana Cabecinha (Por) 1:30:39; 19. Raquel González (Spa) 1:31:01; 20. Mária Czaková (Svk) 1:31:03 PR;
… 29. Maria Michta-Coffey (US) 1:33:05;… 56. Miranda Melville (US) 1:35:49;… 65. Robyn Stevens (US) 1:38:06;… 79. Amberly Melendez (US) 1:50:29;
50W Teams: 1. China 8; 2. Ecuador 21; 3. Ukraine 40; 4. Spain 41.
Individuals: 1. Rui Liang (Chn) 4:04:36 WR (old WR 4:05:56 Inês Henriques [Por] ’17);
2. Hang Yin (Chn) 4:09:09 (x, 5 W); 3. Claire Tallent (Aus) 4:09:33 PR (4, 6 W); 4. Paola Pérez (Ecu) 4:12:56 PR (7, 9 W); 5. Faying Ma (Chn) 4:13:28 PR (9, x W);
6. Johana Ordóñez (Ecu) 4:14:28 PR; 7. Maocuo Li (Chn) 4:14:47 PR; 8. Julia Takács (Spa) 4:16:37; 9. Nastassia Yatsevich (Blr) 4:18:00 PR; 10. Nadzeya Darazhuk (Blr) 4:18:31 PR; 11. Magaly Bonilla (Ecu) 4:19:04 PR; 12. Khrystyna Yudkina (Ukr) 4:22:15 NR; 13. Vasylyna Vitovshchyk (Ukr) 4:24:08 PR; 14. Mayra Carolina Herrera (Gua) 4:28:30 PR;
15. Alina Tsviliy (Ukr) 4:28:49 PR; 16. Ainhoa Pinedo (Spa) 4:30:02; 17. Mar Juárez (Spa) 4:30:30 PR; 18. Tiia Kuikka (Fin) 4:32:43 PR; 19. Maria Larios (Spa) 4:37:43 PR; 20. Lyudmyla Shelest (Ukr) 4:37:43;… 28. Erin Talcott (US) 5:08:56; 29. Susan Randall (US) 5:12:07;… dnf—Katie Burnett (US), Inês Henriques (Por).
(best-ever mark-for-place: 1, 3–29)
