Perseus Karlstr\u00f6m set a Swedish and course record to secure a scintillating half marathon race walk win at the Lusatian Race Walking meeting, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Silver event, in Zittau, Germany yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He clocked 1:23:24 to win by more than four minutes, while Peru\u2019s Mary Luz Andia also achieved a big personal best to win the women\u2019s race. The 25-year-old stopped the clock in a course record of 1:34:29 and like Karlstr\u00f6m, she was untroubled from the gun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were also wins for France\u2019s Aur\u00e9lien Quinion and Poland\u2019s Izabela Krzy\u017canowska in the marathon races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was multiple global medallist Karlstr\u00f6m who stole the show. His previous best of 1:24:58 from Dudince in March was eclipsed in style as the 36-year-old saved the best until last as far as 2026 goes by improving his national record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Karlstr\u00f6m’s victory was never in doubt, and when it came to lapping on the one-kilometre loop course, he did just that. He lapped the entire field of 50 race walkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swede went straight to the front with Mexico\u2019s Cesar Fernandez and Germany\u2019s Leo K\u00f6pp right behind, with four in close order behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the second lap covered in 3:55, it was Karlstr\u00f6m on his own with Fernandez desperately trying to close a small but significant gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the leader sporting blue arm warmers and a blue vest was blowing the field away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Karlstr\u00f6m was 150 metres ahead after the five-kilometre mark as he relentlessly churned out sub-four-minute kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Josafat Pena was chasing his compatriot Fernandez, but K\u00f6pp was part of a four-strong group that caught Pena at the eight-kilometre mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fernandez fell victim to the penalty zone, which allowed K\u00f6pp, Ireland\u2019s Oisin Lane and Czechia\u2019s Adam Zaj\u00ed\u010dek to overtake and battle for the leading places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three then became two as Lane faltered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 16km, K\u00f6pp became sole contender for second place as Zaj\u00ed\u010dek also suffered. But the German athlete was still more than three minutes behind the leader. In fact, Karlstr\u00f6m could see K\u00f6pp, and with a circuit to go, the eventual runner-up became the last to get lapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the German was comfortable in second place and took that in 1:27:45 with Latvia\u2019s Raivo Saulgriezis reaping the rewards of a sensible race to claim third place in 1:28:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zaj\u00ed\u010dek recovered to claim fourth, one second ahead of Mateusz Nowak from Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andia took on the women\u2019s half marathon sheltered by a group of male athletes in the early stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wearing dark glasses, she was out front and reached the six-kilometre mark in 26:43, moving further away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She eventually won by more than two minutes, her 1:34:29 a course record by 3:41 and a 5:53 improvement on her previous best set in Lima in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her dominance was underlined when Hana \u010cern\u00e1 of Slovakia recorded 1:36:59 for second, another big personal best by 1:51.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France\u2019s 2021 world U20 silver medallist Ma\u00eble Bir\u00e9-Heslouis notched a fine third place in 1:39:16 on her half marathon debut. Canada\u2019s Rosalie Drapeau was fourth in 1:40:59, a PB by 2:33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a short delay for the start of the marathons around the rectangular 1km park course. But at 10\u00b0C and sunny, it was nigh on perfect for racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took no time for Quinion and Martin Madeline-Degy to make the men\u2019s marathon their own. The French pair were well clear by 4km, reached in 17:56 ahead of Mexico\u2019s Julio Cesar Salazar Enriquez who was more than a minute behind at 14km. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quinion and Madeline-Degy pushed on to record a swift 1:29:58 at the half marathon stage before Madeline-Degy edged ahead for a lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any hope of an upset was short lived when European bronze medallist Quinion asserted his authority to draw level, move ahead, and take a 21-second lead at 29km. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the end, that had stretched to 54 seconds: 3:01:35 to 3:02:29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the same, both comfortably broke the previous course record of 3:03:55 set by Italy\u2019s Andrea Agrusti 12 months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy\u2019s Teodorico Caporaso was isolated for almost the entire race but he still came through for third place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women\u2019s marathon, three athletes race walked together for the first half. There was nothing to separate Germany\u2019s Ada Junghann\u00df from Krzy\u017canowska and her Polish compatriot Kinga Walerianczyk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Krzy\u017canowska took the lead with 8km to go and never looked back to cross the finish line in 3:49:54.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was a marathon effort that produced huge gaps in the closing stages as athletes tired dramatically. Second was Walerianczyk in 3:56:36 and third wasn\u2019t Junghann\u00df but her German compatriot Julia Schmidt in 4:04:01.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Perseus Karlstr\u00f6m set a Swedish and course record to secure a scintillating half marathon race walk win at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[50,298],"class_list":["post-17055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-athletics","tag-race-walking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t