The women’s 20km team has also been hit hard, with reigning national champion and Olympic nominee Kellie Wapshott hit with a bout of bronchitis.
However in a promising sign for the women’s team, Jane Saville has returned to form, her Olympic A-qualifying performance in Rio Maior in April, demonstrating that she has bounced back from her hamstring complaint.
The Athens bronze medallist will utilise this weekend’s race to convince selectors that she has returned to fitness and form and cement her place in the Olympic team.
Saville will line up beside her younger sister and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Natalie Saville, Beijing nominee Claire Woods and Victorian Megan Szirom.
Saville, who was pipped for a medal in 2004 and finished seventh in 2006, will be making her seventh World Cup appearance in Cheboksary.
More than 450 athletes from 55 nations will venture onto the 2km-loop course adjacent to the Volga River, some 600km from Moscow. Race walking powerhouses Mexico, China, Russia are most likely to cause the majority of headaches for the Australian team.
Australian Team
23rd IAAF World Race Walking Cup (Cheboksary, Russia)
May 10 – 11, 2008
Women 20km: Jane Saville (NSW), Natalie Saville (NSW), Claire Woods (SA), Megan Szirom (Vic)
Junior Women 10km: Nicole Fagan (NSW), Regan Lamble (Vic), Jessica Rothwell (Vic)
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| Women’s 10km Walk | Sat 10 May | 6pm |
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| Women’s 20km Walk | Sat 10 May | 7pm |
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2008-05-08
