Kimberly Garcia, the race walker from Peru, kicked off her 2023 campaign by shattering the record for the 35-kilometer race walk at the Dudinska 50 competition in Slovakia.
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Kimberly Garcia, the race walker from Peru, kicked off her 2023 campaign by shattering the record for the 35-kilometer race walk at the Dudinska 50 competition in Slovakia. Garcia finished the race at the first World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of the year in a timing of 2:37:44. She dominated the run from the first kilometer and broke away from the group just a few minutes later. Garcia had held a 16-second lead over Chinese walkers Liu Hong and Ma Li at the 5 kilometer point. Her advantage had increased to more than a minute at the 15km mark, which she covered in 1:07:29.
Ma started to lose track of Liu as the race went on, but Garcia kept up her pace and finished the 20 km in 1:29:58. Garcia had a lead of 84 seconds over Liu with 10 kilometers remaining. While, Wu Quanming was close to teammate Ma Li. Garcia finished the 30 kilometers with a timing of 2:15:10, about two minutes faster than Liu. By this point, Wu had moved up to third position, but Magaly Bonilla of Ecuador was rapidly narrowing the gap. Garcia persisted in her aggressive pace despite the difficulties and finished in 2:37:44, shattering the previous world record for the race by two seconds at the Dudinska 50.
José Doctor of Mexico won the men’s 35-kilometer race walk in a time that set a meeting record and a national record with a timing of 2:26:37. Early in the race, Doctor trailed behind Evan Dunfee, the Olympic bronze medalist, and Brian Pintado of Ecuador. Dunfee had taken the lead after 10 kilometers in a timing of 41:25. Throughout the majority of the race, the trio raced forward together, but at the 17km point, Dunfee started to fall behind. Around the 20km mark, Pintado and Doctor had built up an 11-second lead over Dunfee, and Doctor widened that advantage in the closing kilometers of the race to win easily in 2:26:37. With a timing of 2:27:30, Brazil’s Caio Bonfim placed second and China’s Cui Lihong took third place. India’s Ram Baboo grabbed the fifth place in the event to break the national record with a timing of 2:29.56.
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In the men’s 20km race walk, Colombia’s Eider Arevalo won the competition with a timing of 1:19:23. Meanwhile, the double world bronze medallist Perseus Karlstrom finished 21 seconds behind him to place second. Sandeep Kumar from India initially led the race and went through the 5km point with a five-second lead over Karlstrom. However, the Swedish athlete leveled with Kumar in just a few kilometers. They went through the 10km mark in a time of 39:33 which was 17 seconds ahead of Arevalo and Mexico’s Noel Chama.
However, Kumar couldn’t continue to lead as he received a third red card and had to go through a one-minute penalty. This eventually resulted in him not advancing in the contest. This left Karlstrom in the lead between the 12km and 17km marks, when Arevalo finally caught up with him. The two walkers rallied for most of a lap before Arevalo broke free in the final kilometer, winning with a time of 1:19:23. Karlstrom finished second with a time of 1:19:44, while Chama came in third with a time of 1:20:46.
In the women’s 20km race walk, Mexico’s Alegna Gonzalez claimed victory with a time of 1:28:09, finishing over two minutes ahead of Puerto Rico’s Rachelle de Orbeta. The Dudinska 50 was the first World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of the year and served as an important opportunity for athletes to qualify for upcoming events such as the World Athletics Championships and the Asian Games.
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