Fernández, Turava take big wins in La Coruña – IAAF Race Walking Challenge 2007 - UPDATED

Francisco Fernández of Spain and Ryta Turava of Belarus, who are both the current World Cup, European title holders and World silver medallists, respectively at the men’s and women’s 20km Race Walks, were the overwhelming victors at the ‘Gran Premio Cantones de La Coruña’, the fifth leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge 2007 held today on a pleasant afternoon for athletics (16º C).

Nicknamed ‘Paquillo’, the 30-year-old Spaniard clocked 1:18:50 and had a handsome margin over China’s Han Yuncheng, who was runner-up in 1:19:15, while Australia’s World 50km record holder Nathan Deakes took a praiseworthy third place returning from injury in 1:19.34.

In the women’s race Turava was an even more dominant winner in 1:28:44, some 1:38 ahead of Norway’s Kjersti Tysse Plätzer while Claudia Stef of Romania was a distant third with a 1:31.54 clocking.

MEN - World record pace at halfway!

The race opened not particularly fast and by the second kilometre ‘Paquillo’ already walked at the top of the leading group. The Spaniard broke away from the rest of the classy line-up with ease to go through the 5km in a brisk 19:28 and a 10-second advantage over a triumvirate comprising Tunisia’s Hatem Ghoula, Australia’s Nathan Deakes and Han Yuncheng of China.

Boosted by the presence on the 1-km circuit of his renowned coach Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski, Fernández even walked faster in the second five-kilometre section which he covered in a frantic 19:08 split, 38:36 overall. That figure killed the race as his closest chaser Ghoula was no less than 43 seconds adrift at that point.

Fernández extended his lead to 58 seconds with 5km left but that advantage decreased to 25 seconds at the finish line due to his own tiredness and the fierce battle for the minor places which was being carried out between Ghoula, Deakes and Yuncheng, the latter prevailing as runner-up coming from behind over the last three kilometres.

An elated Fernández said: “I’m delighted with my performance. Right from the start I realised that nobody wanted to set the pace so I decided to push hard to run a fast time and hopefully come close to the World record (1:17:21). The 10km split was very encouraging for me but definitely you need tough rivalry to break a World record and I walked 17 kilometres in solitude. The second half was much slower as I faded a bit having secured the victory”.

“I’m also happy since I rank now second in this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge and hope to retain my title finally. I’ll next race in Krakow (Poland) in three week’s time, which is also an IAAF permit. That will be my last appearance before the Worlds in Osaka. It’s true that this year I have raced very sparingly with only four 20km outings before Osaka. There, I’ll try to snatch gold at last after my two consecutive silvers in Paris (2003) and Helsinki (2005)."

"Anyway, the most important event in the future for me will be next year’s Beijing Olympics as I’m aware that it could be my last chance to become an Olympic 20km champion”.

WOMEN - Turava in a class on her own

In the women’s race Turava was an even more dominant winner in 1:28:44, some 1:38 ahead of Norway’s Kjersti Tysse Plätzer while Claudia Stef of Romania a distant third with a 1:31.54 clocking. Unlike Fernandez, the Belarussian used cautious tactics and by halfway the clock was reading a slow 45:25, with Turava and Norway’s Kjersti Tysse Plätzer sharing the lead.

Turava made a crucial move shortly after the mid-way point as a 21:40 split for the next 5km section moved her to an unchallenged first place and a huge advantage of 33 seconds over the Norwegian. From then on the 26-year-old Turava injected more speed to romp home unopposed in a not particularly quick time of 1:28:44 but still enough to leave Plätzer 1:38 behind.

Turava heads now comfortably the 2007 IAAF Race Walking Challenge with 30 points thanks to her three victories in a row in Rio Maior, Sesto San Giovanni and La Coruña.

1. Francisco Fernández (Spain) 1:18:50
2. Han Yuncheng (China) 1:19:15
3. Nathan Deakes (Australia) 1:19:34
4. Hatem Ghoula (Tunisia) 1:20:53
5. Juan Manuel Molina (Esp) 1h:21:09
6. Li Gaobo (China) 1:21:15
7. Joao Vieira (Portugal) 1:21:30
8. Eric Tysse (Norway) 1:21:32
9. Eder Sánchez (Mexico) 1:21:38
10. Sergio Vieira (Portugal) 1:22:12

Women

1. Ryta Turava (Belarus) 1:28:44
2. Kjerti Plätzer (Norway) 1:30:22
3. Claudia Stef (Romania) 1:31:54
4. Yang Sha (China) 1:32:12
5. Sonata Milusauskaite (Lithuania) 1:33:09
6. Ines Henriques (Portugal) 1:33:18
7. Athanasia Tsoumeleka (Greece) 1:34:10
8. Ana Cabecinha (Portugal) 1:34:40
9. Ana Groza (Romania) 1:35:45
10. Neringa Aidietyte (Lithuania) 1:35:54