South African race walkers Anel Oosthuizen and Wayne Snyman strode to solid top 10 places in the Czech Republic at the weekend where the Rio Olympians were competing at the EA Race Walking 20km event in Podebrady.
On to Snyman who was in Europe after a good start to his season in Adelaide, Australia. He ended fourth in 1:22:01 as Germany’s Christopher Linke won in 1:18:59.
‘Training has been going well. I’ve had good solid 130km weeks and two 10-day blocks of good speed and sharpening up and I’m also working a bit more in the gym now. The faster the races get the more I need to do gym work.
‘I didn’t train hard here at all. I adjusted my tapering as per how my body reacts and needed more sleep and relax. I found a wonderful route next to the river which is marked every 500m so it made it easy to train.
‘We started at 3.30pm which I think is the same time as we’ll start in London. The race went smoothly until 18km. We went fast into the first 10km but our first km was strangely very slow. We went through 40.26 in 10km which was a bit quick for me as my 10km time is normally around 40:50 or so.
‘So I knew I had to really focus to get it right. I lost the two leading guys at around 11km and walked alone for most of the race then. At 18k my legs started feeling weak and I knew I was in trouble. The fourth guy from Germany [Hagen Pohle] was coming up and I wasn’t feeling it. At 19km he passed me. I tried to fight back but the tank was empty.
‘But still a great race and result, my fourth best time and a World Championships qualifier. Let’s hold thumbs on selection. It was just a pity that we had no support. All the teams had coaches and water assistance people and here we come alone with no support. So we walked to fourth and seventh and we had to get help from our Slovak friends. But we managed, went well and are still smiling.’
‘Now I’ll focus on getting ready for SA Championships in Potchefstroom and then get on with training for IAAF World Championships in London.
‘I don’t think my legs will be fine by then but let’s see. I am taking it race by race and that will be nice on home turf and with people supporting me.’
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