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Heffernan and Shumkina highlight for Lugano walking meeting

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Heffernan_Robert
Robert Heffernan of Ireland will start as the favourite
in the men's 20km walk at
the European Athletics Race
Walking Permit
Meeting in Lugano on Sunday.

Ireland’s Robert Heffernan is the men’s star attraction for the opening European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting of 2011, the 9th Memorial Mario Albisetti, in the picturesque Swiss city of Lugano on Sunday.

Heffernan, a top eight finisher at both the 2007 World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games, had the hugely creditable but ultimately heartbreaking achievement of finishing fourth in both the 20km and 50km walks at the last summer’s European Athletics Championships in Barcelona

However, he believes that he has now finally ready to get among the medals at a major championship.

“On a personal level, 2010 was a huge breakthrough year for me by twice breaking the Irish record over 50km and clocking one of the 10 fastest times in the world over 20km,” said Heffernan, who has just returned from a training camp at altitude on Johannesburg, South Africa.

“However, I realise that the sporting public only really understand medals at major championship level but after twice finishing fourth in the European Cup of Race Walking (in 2007 and 2009) along with my two fourth place finishes in Barcelona, I really believe I am ready to take the next step onto the podium at the European Cup  Race Walking in Portugal in May (in Olhí¤o on 22 May) and, of course, the World Championships in Daegu (South Korea) in August,” he added.

The 33-year-old from the city of Cork finished second in the men’s 20km event at this event 12 months ago, coming home behind Italy’s 2008 Olympic Games 50km champion Alex Schwarzer, who raced to a national record of 1:18.24.

This time, Heffernan will be up against a formidable squad of Chinese walkers, who have chosen the nearby town of Saluzzo across the border in Italy as their training base for the 2012 Olympics Games in London.

China will have a world class team of six walkers in the senior men’s 20km and, along with Russia’s Petr Trofimov and Belarus’ Ivan Trotski, they will pose the biggest threat to the Irishman’s ambitions of coming home in front.

Meeting organiser Daniele Albisetti has also assembled a world class field in the senior women’s 20km, with the leading name being Ukraine’s Olena Shumkina, who has a personal best of 1.25.32 set in 2009, one of the leading times in history.

However, the 23-year old, who won the gold medal at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships, could be pushed by Russia’s 2008 World Race Walking Cup silver medallist Tatiana Sibileva as well as the outstanding Chinese walker Hong Liu.

Portugal’s Ana Cabecinha and Great Britain’s 2010 Commonwealth Games champion Jo Jackson will also be hoping to get close to their own national records.

Another interesting entry in the women’s field is Sylvia Korzeniowska, the sister of Poland’s four-time Olympic Games gold medallist Robert Korzeniowski, who holds the Polish record for the women’s 20km walk but who now competes in the colours of her adopted France.

Around 230 walkers from over 30 nations are expected to take part in the Lugano event, which is becoming more popular every year. The next European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting of 2011 will be in the Slovakian town of Dudince on 26 March.




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