Volunteers with the name of participating countries at the opening ceremony of IAAF World Race Walking Cup Taicang 2014 (© Kevin Lee)
Following a stunning opening ceremony for the 26th edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup on Friday, with the opening speech given by IAAF Treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, the first gun is ready to be fired for the five races that will be staged by the Chinese city of Taicang on Saturday and Sunday (3-4).
The final numbers of participants are 113 men and 88 women for the 20km races, 60 men for the 50km race, and 41 men and 48 women respectively for the junior 10km races.
The total of 350 athletes, with no walker allowed to compete in more than one event, from 48 IAAF Member Federations is a record number on both accounts for a Cup staged outside Europe.
Start lists and athlete biographies are now available on the IAAF website competition page here (look under EVENT INFORMATION at the foot of the page).
