Edit

When we arrived in Krakow Friday evening it was cold and it was raining. It didn't look as if we would have very good conditions to walk fast in the race the next day. Saturday morning it was still raining a little, but the weather got better and better during the day. In the afternoon we had perfect conditions, 15 degrees Celsius, sun and a nice breeze. A lot of people were crowded around the course with the finishline at the well know Rynek Market Square. There were many Norwegian tourists and students in the city. I was very happy to see that they all stopped at the course and cheered for me during the whole race. Even through warm up they were cheering for me :-)

During the whole morning I was restless, I wanted the time to go faster so that I finally could start my warm up. I was really looking forward to race, especially since I was going to race against the Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina/RUS and Elisa Rigaudo/ITA - bronze in the Olympics and 42:31 earlier this year!
Although I have felt that I have been on the edge the last weeks, with much training and working, I felt good during warm up.

When we started Kaniskina and Rigaudo went out like a bullet, they were so fast I had problems to follow, but after 500m I caught up with them and stayed in the lead from then. Kaniskina continued the fast pace for the next lap and Rigaudo had to let us go. From then on it was a battle between Kaniskina and me. We walked side by side for a while and she walked behind me until 2k to go. Then she took the lead and I tried to follow. Only 1k to go she put up an amazing pace and got a lead of 10m, but I decided to give everything all the way to the finish line. The last 500m I was getting closer and closer and just 20m before the finishline I passed her and won in 41:41 / one second ahead of Kaniskina! Elisa Rigaudo became third in 43:44.

While I had to go to the dopingtest after the race it was time for Erik and the rest of the men for their race. The men also walked 10km. A strong field with Olympic and European champions among the contenders. At 6k Borchin (RUS) got a lead and he kept it until the end. The Olympic Champion won ahead of Erik, who had a strong finish. Third was Yohan Diniz (FRA). Erik "matched" my time and walked 38.38.

After this race both the race walking Tysse siblings are still the leaders in the 2009 edition of the IAAF Race Walk Challenge. Erik with 35 points and I have 48 points.

RESULTS:
Women’s 10 km race:
1. Kjersti Tysse Plätzer (Norway) 41:41 12p
2. Olga Kaniskina (Russia) 41:42 10p
3. Elisa Rigaudo (Italy) 43:44 8p
4. Vera Santos (Portugal) 44:07 7p
5. Claudia Stef (Romania) 44:21 6p
6. Ines Henriques (Portugal) 44:22 5p
7. Olive Loughnane (Ireland) 44:25 4p
8. Tatiana Korotkowa (Russia) 45:57 3p
9. Sylwia Korzeniowska (Poland) 46:26 2p
10. Zuzana Schindlerova (Czech Republic) 46:52 1p

Men’s 10 km race:
1. Valeriy Borchin (Russia) 38:11 12p
2. Erik Tysse (Norway) 38:38 10p
3. Yohan Diniz (France) 38:46 8p
4. Joao Vieira (Portugal) 39:12 7p
5. Alex Schwazer (Italy) 39:15 6p
6. Hatem Ghoula (Tunisia) 39:23 5p
7. Grzegorz Sudoł (Poland) 39:27 4p
8. Matej Toth (Slovakia) 39:41 3p
9. Jakub Jelonek (Poland) 40:16 2p
10. Rafał Augustyn (Poland) 40.32 1p

IAAF story

IAAF Race Walking Challenge

Overall standings men after Krakow

Overall standings women after Krakow

 

2009-05-31