Perseus Karlstrom, Glenda Morejon and Aiman Al Hashemi in Muscat (© Dan Vernon)
The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22 will mark a turning point in the 61-year history of the competition.
The 35km will make its debut at the event, attracting a strong international field of the world’s best race walkers. It will also be the first time that Oman, the host of this year’s event, will take part.
South American record-holder Glenda Morejon is one of a number of athletes who’ll be making their debut over 35km this weekend.
“I’m doing the 35km here because Ecuador has a strong team and I want to be a part of that,” says Morejon, who will team up with the likes of Paola Perez and Magaly Bonilla – top-10 finishers over 50km at the 2019 World Championships – in the longer event on Saturday (5). “It’s my first time racing this distance, so I just want to enjoy it and see what it’s going to take to finish the race. It’s something new, so I want to try it out. But I’m doing it for my country and for my team first and foremost. In future one day I’d like to double up in the 20km and 35km at a major event.”
Despite still being relatively young, 21-year-old Morejon has already achieved much within the sport. After winning the world U18 title in 2017 and world U20 bronze in 2018, she made her 20km debut in 2019 with a South American record of 1:25:29 – the fastest ever time by an U20 athlete.
She finished 25th at the World Championships later that year, and did not finish at the Tokyo Olympics, but she rebounded earlier this year by winning the South American 20km title. She is now relishing competing in Muscat and at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 as she continues her journey in the sport.
“I began race walking at age 13, but I started in athletics when I was five years old alongside my dad, who was my first coach,” she explained. “I lost interest in athletics so I quit for a bit, but I returned to it when I was 12 and a coach called John Delgado introduced me to race walking. Never would I have imagined back then that race walking would become my life and my passion. Since winning my first major medal in 2015, I’ve never looked back.”
Perseus Karlstrom has been one of the world’s leading race walkers for the best part of a decade. The 31-year-old from Sweden has competed at the past four World Championships, earning bronze over 20km at the 2019 edition in Doha.
He is using this weekend’s competition in Muscat as part of his preparation for this year’s World Championships in Oregon, where he hopes to double in the 20km and 35km.
“I did a 35km in December, and it’s a new distance so I want to use this as a stepping stone towards performing my best in Oregon,” said Karlstrom, who started training under the guidance of 2013 world 50km champion Robert Heffernan a few months ago.
“In recent weeks I’ve been having five or six days a week where things feel hard, and one day a week that feels good,” says Karlstrom, who in recent months has battled nagging knee problems as well as Covid. “I’m hoping that the day of the race here will be my good day this week.”
Aiman Al Hashemi will make history this week as one of the first race walkers to represent Oman at these championships.
“I’m happy and honoured to be a member of the national team participating in this global event,” said the 28-year-old, who used to be a distance runner and represented Oman in the half marathon at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju.
“This technical discipline of athletics requires a lot of training, consistency and experience,” he said. “Our team only started training last year, but thankfully we have worked hard and have gained a lot of knowledge to ensure we give our best at this event. Our participation here will also be an opportunity to mingle with experienced race walkers from around the world. We will give it our best.
“Race walking is, of course, completely different to any sport I’d done before,” he added. “A lot more technique is required, which is quite hard and tiring, but at the same time it’s also exciting.”
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
