Emelyanov and Sokolova make it memorable for Russia
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| Stanislav Emelyanov of Russia added another title to his cabinet of trophies taking the men's 20km walk gold in Olhao. |
European champion Stanislav Emelyanov and Vera Sokolova completed the Russian domination at the 9th European Cup Race Walking in Olhao, Portugal, with commanding wins in their respective 20km races on Saturday.
Men – 20km walk:
He was a great walker as a junior – and Stanislav Emelyanov’s future as a senior is assured after winning the European Cup Race Walking in Olhão – and all before his 21st birthday.
The Russian proved that gold in last year’s Barcelona European Athletics Championships was no flash in the pan, and also underlined terrific form of two sub 1:20:00 in 2011 so far.
When it mattered, Emelyanov hit overdrive to belie his years and leave the rest in his wake with two laps left. He claimed Russia’s third individual gold of the day, and behind him, there was a battle royale for the places.
All was decided in the last 500 metres when Spaniard Ben Sanchez suddenly clutched his hamstring like he had been shot to allow Matej Toth a sprint for silver with Jakub Jalonek, who was the surprise of the race in third.
The Pole has a modest 1:22:17 PB set two years ago, and although he was close to this in April, there was nothing before the race to suggest he could make the podium.
Not only was he up there with the other two – he was in the chase for gold until Emelyanov showed his winning hand.
There is always one walker who decides to be the rabbit. In this case, it was Recep Celik from Turkey who passed the first 1k lap in a modest 4:16, followed by massive group of 25 six seconds back.
Celik completed the second circuit four seconds quicker, but the human throng in his shadow was clearly holding back.
They even allowed the Turk to increase his advantage to 10 seconds at 3km (12:38) and he added two more on top a lap later.
By 5km (21:09), two seconds had been clawed back by the group, and next time around, Celik was joined by all the big guns only to drop out soon after.
At halfway (42:21), the group was a slimmed down 13, with all the expected big guns still in contention. It was hardly a surprise: the pace had gone up by five seconds a lap and stayed there for the next two circuits.
Italian Giuppino Matteo and Kevin Campion from France had lost six seconds – but it was the next tour that did all the damage.
Robbie Heffernan (Ireland), Sergey Morozov (Russia) and Ukrainian Oleksandr Venhlovskyy, wearing long white socks despite the sun, were among those shed from the group that was now down to six.
Lap 16 was the fastest yet in 4:06, and no sooner had the leaders hit the lap timers on their stopwatches that Emelyanov turned up the heat even further to forge the decisive gap over Jelonek and Toth.
Emelyanov was circumspect about his Olympic chances despite his newly found fame.
He said: “It’s too early to say, and the whole Russian team trained with me for this – so I didn’t do anything special to get here.”
The second placer reckoned a medal was always on the cards, but Toth was surprised by the company around him.
He said: “I was confident, but Jacob and Ben around me had great races."
Jelonek added: “My coach is Ilya Markov – and his skill has helped me. I was eighth in the European Championships and I feel I’m getting better and better.”
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| Vera Sokolova was in imperious form taking the women's 20km walk title in Olhao. |
Women – 20km walk:
After all, Vera Sokolova is the fastest-ever woman to complete the distance – so no surprises the Russian favourite reigned supreme.
Behind her, there were seismic shifts to shake the race inside out in the second half.
Just when it looked as if Olive Loughnane would take Ireland’s second medal of the day, the judges removed her with less than a lap to go, and from somewhere Anisya Kirdyapkina summoned the reserves for second that looked beyond her 5k earlier.
At 15k, Maria Vasco shot past the second Russian and Loughnane in turn passed the Spaniard. But when defending champion Vasco succumbed to the effort that got her there in the first place, Elisa Rigaudo, buried deep in the pack as late as 16k, likewise found the extra for bronze – just like the Italian did in the last Olympics.
Those with the short odds were up there for the first loop gained in 4:32.
Unlike the men’s race, four Russians and German Melanie Seeger had already creviced out a gap over Loughnane and Vasco – a step ahead of five others.
The leaders passed 3k in 13:16 – an increase of 20 seconds over the start pace, and had already reduced the race to a procession for the rest.
Lap four was the last for Seeger at the sharp end, and by quarter distance (22:03), Anna Lukyanova in third had loosened her grip on her more famous team-mates.
The difference to everyone else was more measured by circuit seven, with 13 seconds between third and Seeger, and Vasco about the same distance behind.
Two laps later, the defending champion slashed the difference to nothing and then shot ahead.
Because Lukyanova had two DQ cards – you can bet she was under orders to slow down and stay in the race.
Loughnane started her charge for glory just about the time Vasco thought she was safe for a medal. And such was her pace, she became the third walker to occupy bronze position.
The colour of the medal got even shinier when she closed Kirdyapkina down, but that was before the Russian revived, Vasco slowed and the judges removed Loughnane – none of which mattered to the imperious Sokolova on her own in splendid isolation.
Despite her success, the winner was none too sure she would be able to close down world and Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina.
Sokolova said: “Olga is very strong – and I will have to work harder than this to beat her in the future, and maybe the World Championships in August are too soon – but I’m going to try hard for next year’s Olympics.”
Bronze medallist Rigaudo, also proved to be coach Sandro Damilano’s 50th major walking medal.
She said: “I certainly didn’t expect to get a medal today. The goal was merely to get a qualifying time for the World Championships – and to get a medal for my eight-month old baby Elena.”
Click here for the complete results.
