Portugal marched into the top 10 at the start of the World Cups | Athletics
Portugal debuted this Friday at the World Athletics Championships, which take place in Eugene, Oregon, USA, with a modest overall performance, but with an interesting individual result. With three female representatives in the 20km distance, Ana Cabecinha ended up getting the best result, with a ninth place, but far from the national record that belongs to her and the new world champion, the Peruvian Kimberly García León.
In the second of this final edition of the World Cup (at km 20, without representation of the Portuguese march, as it ended in the early hours of the morning, 4×1), early on whether the first victory would be a matter to be resolved between the Peruvian Kimberly García León, the Chinese Shijie Qieyang and the Polish Katarzyna Zdzieblo. Just as it was easy for the Portuguese Ana Cabecinha to be more competitive.
Participating for the sixth time in the World Championships, the experienced marcher from Alentejo, who this year had the best mark of 1h31m21s (recorded in the Czech Republic, on 2 April), completed the first kilometers between 15th and 17th place , to later approach the top 10 with some naturalness.
Of course it was very complicated, just before the race, a place before the race done, a place before the race done. In the route drawn in the middle of the city, close to the Autzen Stadium, the national record holder (1h27m46s) spent 8km in 35m39s, in 11th place, while the leader, Kimberly García León, did 34m46s.
The 28-year-old Peruvian, interesting, walked at a rhythm, in a fast test, and started by taking off miniaturization, Shijie Qieyang’s march at 15km. When a prompt response from the Chinese was expected, the truth is that she could not keep up with him and, already at a loss, she would even be overtaken in the last four kilometers by Zdzieblo.
Imperturb, García León was consolidating the lead, continuing a great season, to finish in 1h26m59s, with a Peru record and with the best world post of 2022. Katarzyna Zdzieblo followed and, closing the mark, Shijie Qieyang.
As for Ana Cabecinha, who in 2019 had finished the Doha World Cups in ninth position, with a time of 1h36m31s, went through the 10th place in Eugene, under an average temperature of 20 degrees, at 13km, at 15km and was still the time to gain a position, to equal the final ranking of three years ago.
The marcher from Clube Oriental de Pechão, in the Algarve (a region to which she has a strong connection from an early age), finished the course in 1h30m29s, 35 seconds from eighth place, which was in the hands of Italian Valentina Trapletti.
Much further back, on a different record, the two other Portuguese women in the competition finished in 25th and 32nd places. Carolina Costa and Inês Henriques still “cohabited” during the time, but then the Sporting athlete took off (she ended up with the record of 1h36m31s), while the record holder of the 50km march was out of the first 30.
For the famous Inês Henriques, this was, moreover, a test for the longest distance of these World Cups (35km). And that was evident when it ended up being doubled by the winner, emerging the need to gain rhythm as the main reason for having chosen to enter the scene already this Friday. She finished with 1h38m32s, but, more important than the mark, was being able to feel the pulse of the conditions she will face.