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Germany, Great Britain and Italy will all have potential medallists among their squads at the European Cup Race Walking in the Algarve town of Olhão in Portugal on 21 May. Andre Höhne, better known in recent years as a 50km walker after finishing fifth over
European Athletics (EAA) – News – Germany, Great Britain and Italy name strong squads for Olhão
Germany, Great Britain and Italy will all have potential medallists among their squads at the European Cup Race Walking in the Algarve town of Olhão in Portugal on 21 May.
Andre Höhne, better known in recent years as a 50km walker after finishing fifth over the longer distance at the 2009 World Championships, will contest the 20km for with a view to qualifying to pull on a German vest at his fifth World Championships this summer.
Höhne will be joined on the start line by Carsten Schmidt while the women’s 20km will be contested by Melanie Seeger, who was fourth at last summer’s European Athletics Championships.
Seeger, now 34, will be contesting her fourth European Cup but her first since 2005. She missed the 2007 Cup through injury and the last event in Metz, France, two years ago due to being pregnant.
Christopher Linke, who finished fourth at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships 20km but who recently clocked an impressive personal best over the distance of 1:20:51 in China, will compete over 50km race in Olhão.
In junior men’s 10km, the 2009 World Youth Championships 10,000m gold medallist Hagen Pohle will start as one of the favourites and the race will give a good indicator of the 19-year-old’s form ahead of the European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, later this summer.
Pohle finished fourth in Metz two years ago at the age of 17 but lead Germany to the team bronze medals and they could have similar aspirations again with Marcel Lehmberg having also selected for junior men’s race.
Charlyne Czychy will contest the junior women’s 10km.for Germany
The 2010 Commonwealth Games 20km walk champion Johanna Jackson will lead the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team and she is looking for a big improvement on her 25th place finish two years ago, the best of her three outings in the Cup to date.
Jackson, now 26, struggled in the scorching temperatures in Metz but has acclimatised to racing in hot conditions after spending the last two winters training in Australia.
Her 10th place at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and steady improvement suggests that she could challenge for a place in the top six if all goes well.
The well-known twins and British internationals Dominic and Daniel King have helped judges and spectators by deciding to race over different distances and they will compete over 50km and 20km respectively.
Italy surprising got a clean sweep of the medals in the 20km men’s race two years ago, and also took the team title, and they will be doing their best to defend their position.
The Azzurri’s quartet of walkers is: Matteo Giupponi, Daniele Paris, Giorgio Rubino and Federico Tontodonati.
Rubino, who won in Metz before finishing fourth at the 2009 World Championships 20km walk, has been recovering from an Achilles tendon operation in December.
However, he showed that he is not far from his best form when he won over 10km in the Italian town of Alessandria in 41:05.24, just coming home in front of the rapidly improving Tontodonati who improved his personal best to 41:09.86.
Giupponi, the 2009 European Athletic U23 Championships 20km bronze medallist, has also been in good form this year and was an impressive winner over the distance at the European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting in the Czech town of Podebrady last month.
In the 50km, the four Italian representatives will be Teodorico Caporaso, Marco De Luca, Lorenzo Dessi and Jean Jacques Nkouloukidi, the latter finishing third over 20km two years ago.
The 2008 Olympic Games bronze medallist Elisa Rigaudo, who also took the bronze at the 2006 European Athletics Championships, will have her first international outing since the 2009 World Championships after giving birth to her daughter Elena last September.
Rigaudo, who finished fourth in 2007 Cup and took the bronze medal two years before, will be joined in the women’s 20km team by Federica Ferraro, Eleonora Anna Giorgi and Antonella Palmisano.
The latter, like her compatriot Rigaudo, also knows what European Cup Race Walking medals look like after finishing third as a junior over 10km two years ago and she also won at the World Cup just under 12 months ago.
The 2010 Youth Olympic Games 10,000m winner Anna Clemente leads the junior women’s squad at 10km, and will be looking to follow in Palmisano’s footsteps as Italy also won the team gold medals in this category in 2009.
Click on the link below to check out the final entries for Olhao 2011.
