Swede Perseus Karlstroen and China’s Shenjie Qieyang will seek to reaffirm their 2022 victory on Gran Vía
Madrid, April 29. (Press Europe) –
Spaniard Diego Garcia wants to be a prophet in the second edition of the International Grand Prix Finetwork Madrid Marcha, which will take place on Sunday 10 kilometers on Gran Vía in Madrid and in which the Swede Perseus Karlstroen and the Chinese Shenjie Qieyang will try to repeat the victory of 2022.
The test, integrated into the World Athletics Race Walking Tour with the highest category, ‘Gold’, promoted by Diego García, Technical Director, and organized by G2O Publishport, will bring together a group of walkers who have won 12 medals in the Eugene World Cup ( USA) and the European Championships in Munich. In addition, three of the top six classified in the 20 km of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will run along the Gran Via.
A quarter of that record was collected by last year’s winner, Swede Perseus Carlström, with two World Cup bronze medals in times of 20K and 35K. With just 48 hours to go before his 33rd birthday, Carlström will try to celebrate his birthday in Madrid in a season that started in Australia.
For his part, Diego Garcia Carrera, bronze in the 20km European Championships in Munich behind Karlstrom, will try to avenge last year’s second-place finish, just seven seconds behind the Swede. Silver in the 35-karat national race in Cieza and gold in the recent Spanish Universiade Championships over 10,000 meters ahead of his Murcian town hangman, Alvaro Martín, is favorite to win.
The other favorites are Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, 32, bronze at the 2017 World Cup, China’s Qian Haifeng, 22, Wang Zhaochao, 23, Ecuadorian David Hurtado and Italian Massimo Stano, who last year added 35k. World Cup title with Olympic gold over 20 karat.
The Trans-Alpine star lost his father at the beginning of the year and has not yet made his debut in 2023. His compatriot Francesco Fortunato, German Christopher Linke and Spaniard Marc Tour, fourth in Tokyo 2020 after being skipped in the last 150 meters, will also compete for the podium for Canadian Ivan Dunphy.
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The women will compete with the men starting at 10:30 am on the 1000m circuit doing ten laps. Chinese Jiayu Yang, 1h23:49, second best ever, Ma Zhexia and Li Maocuo; Mexico’s Alegna Gonzalez and Italy’s Antonella Palmisano, the 20-karat Olympic gold medalist in Tokyo, will try to avoid Shenjie Qieyang’s double.
Palmisano will compete for the first time in 20 months, as she has not done so since the Games after undergoing surgery in September 2022 on her hip and sciatic neuritis in her left knee.
On the Spanish side, Laura García-Caro, who finished third in 2022, will also make her debut in 2023, and Raquel Gonzalez, 35,000 silver in Munich and recently awarded Best Athlete of the Year 2022 by the International Mathematical Union, will fight for Get a place in the top five.
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