Coppa
Città di Sesto
San Giovanni is a race
walking competition
with long tradition.
It was the 50th anniversary
for the men's race this
year and the 28th time
they had this race for
women. Sesto is known
for their strong traditions
and as always the women's
race started at 10:00
in the morning and the
men's race at 16:00
(4pm) in the afternoon.
The weather also kept
it's tradition, we had
good conditions in the
morning and the men
had difficult conditions
in the afternoon.
The two
best Chinese 20km walkers
from the Challenge race
in China in April qualified
for the Chinese team
for the World Championships
in Osaka. The last spot
on the team was to be
decided in Italy. Therefore
six Chinese Women and
four Chinese Men were
ready to race in Sesto.
My tactic
was to wait and see
what the Chinese would
do, but I was pretty
sure that they would
start strong. And so
they did. The Chinese
pushed hard in the first
laps inside the Pino
Dordoni stadium. Five
Chinese women and Ryta
Turava took the early
lead. The leading pack
was formed by Song Hongjuan,
Jiang Jing, Liu Hong,
Bai Yanmin and Jiang
Qiuyan pushed the pace
down to 8.30 from two
to four km and they
increased their lead
on Turava by some meters
in the first 5 kilometers.
They reached the 5 km
mark in 21:59. I decided
not to follow the strong
pace of the Chinese,
I started more conservatively
and I stayed in the
chasing group together
with Germany's Melanie
Seeger and Sabine Zimmer,
Australia’s Jane
Saville and Belarus’
Elena Ginko.
The Chinese continued
to walk fast, but Turava
caught up with the leading
group not long after
5km, and as the pack
reached 10km in 43:59,
four chinese women (Jiang
Jing, Song Hongjuan,
Jang Qiuyan and Bai
Yanmin) still stayed
together with Turava.
I was focused on walking
my own race and being
patient. For me this
was the hardest part
of the race. Between
eight and twelve kilometers
I was walking all alone,
good distance to Sabine
Zimmer behind me and
the leading group still
far ahead of me. I passed
10km in 44:21 and I
started to close up
with the leaders. I
saw that one of the
Chinese girls was having
trouble with the pace
in the leading group
and then my "hunt"
started :-) I felt good
and I was able to keep
a good pace.
The
front group was
reduced to just
three women at 14km
with three laps
to go: Ryta Turava,
Song Hongjuan and
Jiang Jing. At this
point Turava decided
to push the pace
and she got a solid
lead over Song Hongjuan.
She passed 15km
in 1:05:43. I caught
up with Jang Jing
to take third position
and passed 15km
in 1:06:06. Finally
just before 18km
I passed Song Hongjuan
and I was second.
Now my focused changed
from hunting my
competitiors to
hunting my Norwegian
Record. Thanks to
a strong second
half (43:20), where
I walked the last
5 kilometers in
21:34 I passed the
finish line in 1:27:41.
Twelve seconds faster
then my own Norwegian
record from 2000.
Turava’s lead
was never threatened.
She walked the last
5km in 21:27, finishing
her 20km in 1:27:10,
the fastest time
in the world this
year.
It was my seventh time
in Sesto. Six times
I went to the podium
and once I did not compete
because I was pregnant.
For me competing in
Sesto is like competing
at home, with the crowd
shouting my name along
the course.
Stephan's
tactic for my race paid
off and it was rewarded!
Now I need rest and
focus on my training
and technique.
I will
write more about the
men's race in the hot
and humid weather later.
For now I just want
to say that I was a
very proud big sister
while watching the men's
race in the afternoon.
My brother Erik did
a very strong tactical
race :-) Good job ERIK!!
