24TH RIO MAIOR INTERNATIONAL RACE WALKING GRAND PRIX

The 24th Grand Prix International in Rio Maior Race Walking / returned this year to the world challenge supervised by the International Association of Athletics Federations with a great competition on Saturday (18).

Liu Hong (China) and Eider Arevalo (Compômbia) won with relative ease over 20km, after seeing her Chinese compatriot and Olympic bronze medallist Qieyang Shenjie withdraw after 5km, Liu pushed on alongside Italy’s Eleonora Giorgio. The pair continued to lead until 9km when Liu then forced the pace to find she was alone at the front.

Liu, who has won medals at the past three World Championships, forged ahead to the finish line to win in a season’s best of 1:27:22, just three seconds shy of the course record set 10 years ago.

“I expected to win this race in a good time,” said 2014 challenge winner Liu after becoming just the second non-European winner of the women’s race in Rio Maior. “I have a dream and I work every day to achieve it: winning the IAAF World Championship in Beijing. But first I have other races in the Race Walking Challenge.”

Giorgio finished almost a minute behind in second place, clocking 1:28:12, almost a minute and a half adrift of the Italian record she set last month in Dudince.

Another Italian, 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Elisa Rigaudo, came from behind in the closing stages to overtake the leading Portuguese race walkers Ana Cabecinha and Ines Henriques (born in Rio Maior) to make it on to the podium. Competing in her first race since finishing fifth at the 2013 World Championships, Rigaudo clocked 1:29:15.

Cabecinha and Henriques took less than 90 minutes to complete the course. As the top Portuguese finisher, Cabecinha won the national title in 1:29:17 with home-town star Henriques one place behind in 1:29:52.

Behind them, Lithuanian record-holder Neringa Aidietyte clocked a season’s best of 1:30:40 to defeat Spanish champion Julia Takacs and Central American record-holder Mirna Ortiz.