3rd May 2013 11:03
Toth, 30, a double Olympian, is in outstanding form having won over 20km in Sesto San Giovanni on Wednesday.
Two years ago he finished second in the European Cup and now has the chance to go one place higher at this European Athletics event staged in this southern spa town.
In Olhao in 2011, Toth missed out on gold by 26 seconds when he finished second in 1:23:53 behind Russian Stanislav Emelyanov with Jakub Jelonek, of Poland, third in 1:23:59.
Toth is joined by fellow Slovak Olympians Anton Kucmin, Dusan Majdan and Zdeno Babik in a strong 20km line-up named by head coach Roman Bencik who has selected full teams also for the other four events: the men´s 50 km, women´s 20 km, and junior men and women 10 km.
Toth, who competes for Dukla B. Bystrica, won in 1:22:02 in Italy in the Race Walking Challenge event two days ago and was delighted how his hard work has paid off.
Speaking to the Slovak information agency SITA, he said: 'I was competing from the full training, so it is a very nice feeling to win the race.'
He has proved this year he can go even quicker with a time of 1:20:14 in Podébrady last month and it is those sort of speeds he will need to be aiming towards as he bids to make the podium in Dudince.
That time has put him fifth on the European Athletics rankings which are led by Russians Pyotr Trofimov with 1:18:28 and Andrey Ruzavin with 1:19:06.
Earlier this week, Britain named a team of six for Dudince and they include Tom Bosworth, the national champion who has a personal best of 1:24:44 from last month, and Alex Wright, who achieved 1:23:05 in Lugano in March.