The Gran Premio Cantones de La Coru&ntilde;a will boast its usual star-studded line-up on Saturday (28) to confirm that the World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold event, held on a one-kilometre circuit, is one of the key 20km competitions of the season.
Local aces &Aacute;lvaro Mart&iacute;n and Diego Garc&iacute;a, the European gold and silver medallists respectively, are among the favourites in the men&rsquo;s race. Martin won in La Coru&ntilde;a back in 2017 while Garc&iacute;a is the defending champion.
The duo has shown fine form in recent months. Garc&iacute;a, who was sixth at the Olympics last year, finished second over 10km in Madrid two weeks ago in 38:42. Mart&iacute;n, who was fourth at the Tokyo Games, was a convincing winner at the Iberoamerican Games in La Nucia last weekend, clocking 39:24.20 for 10,000m on the track.
But winning won&rsquo;t come easy for the Spanish pair as the field also includes four other top-10 finishers from the Olympics: Germany's Christopher Linke, China&rsquo;s Wang Kaihua and Zhang Jun, plus Britain's Callum Wilkinson.
Linke is one of the most consistent 20km specialists, having placed in the top five at the past four global championships, topped by his fourth-place finish in Doha in 2019. The 33-year-old, whose PB of 1:18:42 was set in La Coru&ntilde;a three years ago, was ninth in Madrid over 10km earlier this month and will be eager to bounce back on Saturday over his preferred distance.
Zhang placed fourth in Madrid while Wang, whose Chinese record of 1:16:54 places him third on the world all-time list, was 14th in the Spanish capital. Wilkinson, meanwhile, underwent knee surgery in late February and will be competing for the first time this season.
The Ecuadorian duo of Brian Pintado and David Hurtado should also be in the hunt for a top place. Pintado won in Rio Maior but failed to finish in Madrid. Hurtado, the 2018 world U20 silver medallist, was disqualified in Madrid but this weekend will return to the scene of his 1:20:37 PB.
Watch out too for Brazil's Caio Bonfirm, as the in-form Brazilian set a season's best of 1:18:54 last month in Podebrady and made the podium in Madrid.
Other notable athletes on show will be Italy's Francesco Fortunato, Spain&rsquo;s world U20 bronze medallist Paul McGrath, world and Olympic 50km bronze medallist Evan Dunfee, Olympic 50km fourth-place finisher Marc Tur, and China's Cui Lihong.
Four of the top seven finishers from last year&rsquo;s Olympics will clash in the women&rsquo;s race. World silver medallist Qieyang Shenjie, the winner here in 2018, will start as the favourite. The 31-year-old Chinese race walker will be chasing her third win of the year, following commanding victories in Dudince over 35km (2:43:06) and in Madrid over 10km (43:07). The 2012 Olympic champion boasts the fourth-fastest ever time with her 1:24:45 clocking set last year in Huangshan.
Colombia&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Sandra Arenas, who finished ahead of Qieyang at the Tokyo Games last year, is the defending champion in La Coruna and will be looking to bounce back after a 1:34:27 performance in Melbourne two weeks ago.
Australia&rsquo;s Jemima Montag, the convincing winner of that race in Melbourne, will be competing outside of Australia for the first time this season. The 24-year-old, who was sixth at last year&rsquo;s Olympics, remains unbeaten this year in six outings topped by a 20km lifetime best of 1:27:27 in Adelaide and a world-leading 42:39.2 over 10,000m in Canberra in January.
Local star Mar&iacute;a P&eacute;rez should also play a key role on Saturday. The 26-year-old European champion, who missed an Olympic medal by eight seconds, has shown strong form this year with a national 5000m record of 20:28.17. She will be joined by her in-form compatriot Laura Garc&iacute;a-Caro, the newly-minted Iberoamerican 10,000m champion (43:33.72). The Spaniard beat Peru's Kimberly Garc&iacute;a (43:41:50) on that occasion, gaining revenge from the Peruvian who had defeated her in Madrid over 10km. Garc&iacute;a will line up in La Coruna too.
The course records belong to the Chinese pair of Wang Zhen, who clocked 1:18:00 in 2015, and Liu Hong with her stunning performance of 1:24:38, a mark that stood as a world record for six years.
Weather forecasters are predicting a sunny day with a light breeze and temperatures in the 22-24C range at race time.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

One of the biggest 20km races outside of major championships

World’s best race walkers gather in La Coruña

Reigning European U-23 silver medallist &Aacute;lvaro Mart&iacute;n took an emphatic win at the XXXI Gran Premio Cantones de La Coru&ntilde;a 2017, the Spanish leg of this year&rsquo;s IAAF Race Walking Challenge, on Saturday (3).
Racing in ideal conditions, Martin became the first Spanish victor since 2007 and proved his victory at the national championships over world champion Miguel &Aacute;ngel L&oacute;pez was no fluke.
The women&rsquo;s win went for Brazil&rsquo;s Erica Rocha de Sena, who stamped her authority from midway.
<h3>Mart&iacute;n pushes from the gun</h3>
From the start Mart&iacute;n dictated a sub-4:00/km rhythm which only the Japanese tandem of Daisuke Matsunaga and Eiki Takahashi could manage to sustain while L&oacute;pez travelled six seconds in arrears.
That trio went through the halfway point in 39:46 with a six-second advantage over the surprising Tunisian Hassanine Sbai, himself five seconds clear of Sweden&rsquo;s Perseus Karlstr&ouml;m with L&oacute;pez in sixth another two seconds adrift.
To the delight of the knowledgeable crowd assembled, Mart&iacute;n made a decisive move some 46 minutes into the race when a 3:54 split allowed him to build a sizeable gap on the Japanese pair who walked 10 seconds behind the local hero by the 14th kilometre, with Karlstr&ouml;m being a threatening fourth and L&oacute;pez already out of the podium picture.
Boosted by local supporters throughout Mart&iacute;n extended his lead in the closing stages while first Karlstr&ouml;m and then Sbai overtook the fading pair of Matsunaga and Takahashi. Having secured the most remarkable victory of his career, Mart&iacute;n slowed down over the final hundred metres to send greetings to the fans. Despite that, the 2013 European Junior 10,000m bronze medallist managed the second sub-1:20 performance of his career, only bettered by the 1:19:36 time he set last year in Rome.
Karlstr&ouml;m was second with a 1:20:20 season&rsquo;s best while Sbai got his fastest time for six years to finish 16 seconds outside his 1:20:19 PB set back in 2011. The Japanese duo had to settle for completing the top-five while L&oacute;pez faltered over the second half to cross the finish line in 1:22:04 for 13th.
&ldquo;I had a thorn on my side because I didn&rsquo;t perform well at the European Cup in Podebrady (he finished 31st) some three weeks ago so today&rsquo;s performance is an enormous confidence booster for the rest of the season,&rdquo; said Mart&iacute;n, who will turn 24 on 18 June.
&ldquo;I hope to be part of the Spanish team for London which will be announced next Tuesday. Once there, I don&rsquo;t rule out anything as I think the medals are wide open on this occasion: the Chinese have not performed fast yet, Germany&rsquo;s Christopher Linke will be dangerous, Miguel &Aacute;ngel L&oacute;pez will fight to retain his title. I look forward to competing there among the world&rsquo;s finest walkers.&rdquo;
Mart&iacute;n, who is coached by Jos&eacute; Antonio Quintana at the High Performance Centre in Madrid, confirmed that he &ldquo;slowed down in the final stages because I wanted to thank the support from the crowd. I didn&rsquo;t mind the time; athletics is about places above all, not about times.&rdquo;
<h3>De Sena in a class of her own</h3>
The women&rsquo;s event opened at a steady 4:30/km pace and no fewer than seven athletes went through the 5km point in 22:36: Chinese pre-race favourite Wang Yingliu, Brazil&rsquo;s Erica Rocha de Sena, Portugal&rsquo;s Ines Henriques, Guatemala&rsquo;s Mirna Ortiz and the Spanish trio of Ainhoa Pinedo, Lidia S&aacute;nchez-Puebla and Julia Takacs.
Just before midway, De Sena and Yingliu broke away from the rest of the pack and led by seven seconds clocking 44:54. The Brazilian began to step up the pace in the 13th kilometre and became the lone leader with the clock reading 58 minutes. By the 15km checkpoint De Sena was a comfortable leader after building an 18-second gap on the Chinese, herself 11 seconds clear of a triumvirate compounded by Henriques, S&aacute;nchez-Puebla and Pinedo.
The closing section witnessed how De Sena gradually strengthened her leadership while the relatively unheralded Pinedo (PB of 1:31:58) lowered bit by bit her disadvantage with Yingliu to finally catch and overtake her with some 1500 metres remaining.
At the tape, the Brazilian &ndash; a creditable seventh at the Rio Olympics last year - managed a season&rsquo;s best of 1:29:16 while Pinedo set a massive career best by over two minutes in 1:29:50, six seconds faster than Yingliu. Henriques was a distant fourth 1:28 behind the victor but still seven seconds ahead of S&aacute;nchez-Puebla, who completed the top-five.
Runner-up Pinedo spent two months in Canberra early this year in her build-up for this season and that experience paid off today with her best ever performance by far. Pinedo clocked well under the qualifying standard to compete at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 in August where she will contest her first major championships at the age of 34.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF

Reigning European U-23 silver medallist Álvaro Martín took an emphatic win at the XXXI Gran Premio Cantones de La Coruña 2017, the Spanish leg of this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge, on Saturday (3).

Martin and De Sena take the spoils in La Coruña

China&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Qieyang Shenjie fulfilled her role as favourite at the Grande Pr&eacute;mio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha Atl&eacute;tica 2016, an IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting, winning in a season&rsquo;s best of 1:27:52 on Saturday (9).
She hit the front just before the halfway point and had a three-second advantage over Italy&rsquo;s Eleonora Giorgi at 10km. The pair had quickly established a big lead over the rest of the women until Qieyang started to edge away, passing this checkpoint in 44:18 and 44:21 respectively.
Qieyang then gradually increased her speed, getting faster and faster over the last 10 kilometres and dominating the race from the front, emulating her compatriot Liu Hong who won in Rio Maior 12 months ago.
After going through the first two 5km splits in 22:11 and 22:07, the Chinese race walker ratcheted up the pace and produced a 5km split of 21:58 to go through 15km in 1:06:14, 15 seconds ahead of the Italian who had won at the last European leg of the challenge in the Slovakian town of Dudince three weeks ago.
Qieyang finished off her commanding performance in Rio Maior with a 21:38 5km split to cross the line 28 seconds in advance of Giorgi, who came home in 1:28:20 to finish second behind a Chinese race walker for the second year running.
For Qieyang, it was also a happy retrun to the Portuguese race and redemption for what happened in 2015, when the former Asian record-holder had to pull out barely five kilometres into the race.
"I was pleased with this performance," said Qieyang, whose case for going to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be strengthened by this win, despite finishing fourth at China's recent Olympic trial race. "This was a good competition with a good course. I intended to make about 1:28 and I made a little faster. This was a good test for me, with great sensations for my plans concerning the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships and I'm looking forward for the Olympic Games."
Fellow Italian Elisa Rigaudo finished strongly over the last three kilometres to take third in 1:28:31, the 2008 Olympic and 2011 world bronze medallist finishing in this position in Rio Maior for the second consecutive year.
Further back, Brazil&rsquo;s Erica de Sena, who was part of a big chasing group that was 39 seconds behind Giorgi at the halfway point, just lost out in the battle with Rigaudo for the final place on the podium over the final five kilometres but still finished in 1:28:40, just 18 seconds adrift of the South American record she set when finishing second to Giorgi in Dudince.
<h3>Martin has best day of his career</h3>
Alvaro Martin, last year&rsquo;s European under-23 silver medallist, got the biggest win of his career when the 21-year-old Spaniard took the men&rsquo;s title in 1:21:03 with South Africa&rsquo;s Lebogang Shange 20 seconds further back in second place.
Ecuador&rsquo;s Andres Chocho, this year&rsquo;s winner of the 50km at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge event in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez at the start of last month and the 20km gold medallist at the South American Race Walking Championships last weekend, showed just a few effects of his hectic schedule to finish third in 1:21:58.
Martin, Shange and Chocho passed the halfway point together in 40:55, part of a large group of 10, before breaking away shortly afterwards.
This trio, along with Venezuela&rsquo;s Richard Vargas,&nbsp;were still together 5km later when they reached 15km in 1:01:13, with Italy&rsquo;s Marco De Luca 10 seconds further back in fifth place.
But Martin threw down the gauntlet over the final five kilometres, covering this split in 19:50 to get away from his two rivals.
"This was great, because I had good rivals here and they pushed me to this great win. I&rsquo;m very pleased with that," said the delighted winner.
"I came here to win or at least to make the podium. I had unbeatable sensations, felt quite strong throughout the race and had no problems to break away from my rivals over the closing kilometres. Today's event was intented to be a test for next month's IAAF Walk Race Walking Team Championships to be held in Rome," added Martin.
Shange only settled for second place over the final kilometre but Chocho struggled in the later stages of the race and was almost caught by De Luca, who came through to finish fourth in 1:22:01.
Brazil's Jose Bagio finished fifth in 1:22:15 as Vargas struggled over the final five kilmetres and slipped back to sixth in 1:22:27.
Guatemala&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Erick Barrondo was disqualified at about 14km while another of the favoured South American contingent, Brazil&rsquo;s Caio Bonfim, dropped out early in the race.
Phil Minshull and Antonio Fernandes for the IAAF

China’s Olympic silver medallist Qieyang Shenjie fulfilled her role as favourite at the Grande Prémio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha Atlética 2016, an IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting, winning in a season’s best of 1:27:52 on Saturday (9).