The Balkan Race Walking Championships is an annual racewalking competition between athletes from member nations of Balkan Athletics. The championships features six individual races: senior men's and women's 20 kilometres race walks, men's and women's under-20 10 kilometres race walks, an under-18 boys' 10 km walk, and an under-18 girls' 5 kilometres race walk. [1] Each individual race also has a national team component with points awarded based on finishing time, which are then totalled to form an overall team score for the championships. [2]
Balkan racewalking competitions originated in the main Balkan Athletics Championships. A men's 20 km walk was first held in 1961 and a women's 10 km walk was introduced in 1988 (later increased to a 20 km race in 2001). [3] One-off indoor walks were also held at the Balkan Indoor Athletics Championships in 1994. [4] The Balkan championships for racewalking were first held separately from the main championships in 2000, [3] though Balkan Athletics starting their official numbering of a discrete Balkan Race Walking Championships from 2002 onwards. [5]
Edition | Year | Venue | Country | Date | Senior men's winner | Time | Senior women's winner | Time | Team winner |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2002 | Vlasotince | Yugoslavia | Silviu Casandra (ROM) | 1:22:06 | Nevena Mineva-Dimitrova (BUL) | 1:32:16 | — | |
2nd | 2003 | Ruse | Bulgaria | Predrag Filipović (SCG) | 1:22:40 | Veronica Budileanu (ROM) | 1:35:12 | — | |
3rd | 2004 | Reșița | Romania | Costică Bălan (ROM) | 1:21:51 | Athina Papayianni (GRE) | 1:28:58 | — | |
4th | 2005 | Preveza | Greece | Silviu Casandra (ROM) | 1:25:48 | Evangelia Xinou (GRE) | 1:35:35 | — | |
5th | 2006 | Istanbul | Turkey | Predrag Filipović (SCG) | 1:22:31 | Ana Maria Groza (ROM) | 1:30:46 | — | |
6th | 2007 | Galați | Romania | Recep Çelik (TUR) | 1:23:10 | Alina Olaru (ROM) | 1:33:14 | — | |
7th | 2008 | Bucharest | Romania | 12 April [6] | Predrag Filipović (SRB) | 1:26:59 | Veronica Budileanu (ROM) | 1:34:37 | — |
8th | 2009 | Bucharest | Romania | Dragoș Neacșu (ROM) | 1:23:21.20 | Ana Maria Groza (ROM) | 1:29:56.30 | — | |
9th | 2010 | Bucharest | Romania | Silviu Casandra (ROM) | 1:23:29.30 | Ana Veronica Rodean (ROM) | 1:37.26 | — | |
10th | 2011 | Bucharest | Romania | Recep Çelik (TUR) | 1:22:31 | Claudia Ștef (ROM) | 1:33:38 | — | |
11th | 2012 | Bucharest | Romania | Predrag Filipović (SRB) | 1:28:50 | Ana Veronica Rodean (ROM) | 1:35:17 | — | |
12th | 2013 | Ayvalık | Turkey | Vladimir Savanović (SRB) | 1:28:42 | Adriana Georgiana Enache (ROM) | 1:39:17 | Turkey | |
13th | 2014 | Balchik | Bulgaria | Vladimir Savanović (SRB) | 1:26.31 | Despina Zapounidou (GRE) | 1:34.56 | Romania | |
14th | 2015 | Ayvalık | Turkey | Şahin Şenoduncu (TUR) | 1:27:30 | Andreea Arsine (ROM) | 1:39:36 | Turkey | |
15th | 2016 | Florina | Greece | Adrian Dragomir (ROM) | 1:31:32 | Panayiota Tsinopoulou (GRE) | 1:38:29 | Turkey | |
16th | 2017 | Florina | Greece | Alexandros Papamichail (GRE) | 1:26:40 | Antigoni Drisbioti (GRE) | 1:34:00 | Romania | |
17th | 2018 | Zrenjanin | Serbia | Dmytro Sobchuk (UKR) | 1:26:27 | Panayiota Tsinopoulou (GRE) | 1:39:01 | Turkey | |
18th | 2019 | Alexandroupoli | Greece | Alexandros Papamichail (GRE) | 1:24:40 | Panayiota Tsinopoulou (GRE) | 1:34:55 | Greece | |
19th | 2020 | Ivano-Frankivsk | Ukraine | 14 March [7] | Eduard Zabuzhenko (UKR) | 1:20:46 | Mariia Sakharuk (UKR) | 1:30:22 | Greece |
20th | 2021 | Antalya | Turkey | 27 March [8] | Sahin Senoduncu (TUR) | 1:24:20 | Ayşe Tekdal (TUR) | 1:30:12 | Turkey |
21st | 2022 | Athens | Greece | 3 April [9] | Narcis Mihăilă (ROU) | 1:30:24 | Ayşe Tekdal (TUR) | 1:38:01 | Turkey |
22nd | 2023 | Antalya | Turkey | 9 April [10] | Mazlum Demir (TUR) | 1:25:38 | Antigoni Drisbioti (GRE) | 1:29:56 | Greece |
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The World Athletics Race Walking Tour is a racewalking series organised by World Athletics. Athletes accumulate points in specific race walk meetings during the season. Performances in 10 kilometres race walk, 20 kilometres race walk and 50 kilometres race walk count towards athlete's final scores. Since 2011, racewalking performances at the World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games count towards the series. Women have competed in the 50 km distance since 2018.
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Margareta Simu is a Swedish former racewalking athlete. She competed three times at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup and was the winner in 1975 and bronze medallist in 1977. On her last appearance in 1979 she placed eighth.
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Monica Gunnarsson is a Swedish female former racewalking athlete. She was a seven-time participant at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, racing at every edition from 1983 to 1995. Her best finish at the competition was 14th, achieved in 1991. She also represented her country at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, where she was sixth overall, and was eighth at the European Athletics Championships in 1986 and 1990. She was a bronze medallist at the 1987 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Vitaliy Popovich was a Ukrainian male former racewalking athlete who competed in the 50 kilometres race walk. He competed in the men's 50 kilometres walk at the 1988 Summer Olympics, representing the Soviet Union, and in the same event at the 1996 Summer Olympics, representing Ukraine. He was a three-time participant at the World Championships in Athletics, with a best of fourth at the 1991 event. He also competed at five straight editions of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup from 1989 to 1997. He set a personal best of 3:43:57 hours for the distance in 1989.
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