This Saturday, Ana Cabecinha qualified in 4th place in the Final of the World March Challenge (IAAF), which took place in the city of La Coruña, in Galicia (Spain).
The Algarve Olympic athlete completed the 10km march in a time of 43.15, a mark that constitutes her new personal record.
The big winner of the Challenge was the recent Russian tri-world champion and Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina, with 42.39, demonstrating once again the supremacy over the other competitors.
In 2nd position was the Chinese Liu Hong, with 42.57, also recent world runner-up.
Competing for 3rd place on the podium were the athlete from the Clube Oriental de Pechão and the German Melanie Seeger.
But Seeger (43.09) ended up beating Ana Cabecinha for just 6 seconds, in a shoulder-to-shoulder duel in the last 500 meters of the race.
In the next place (5th) was Susana Feitor (43.40), with the other Portuguese also at a good level: Inês Henriques was 9th with 44.28 (8th in the Challenge) and Vera Santos 13th with 45.58.
At the end of the race, Ana Cabecinha commented “that the result ends a good season I had, although somewhat disturbed by several conditions. I got a good 7th place at the Worlds and now a magnificent 4th place. Coming among the first in this final is a satisfaction, it was just a step on the podium”.
“I'm very happy with this result, on top of setting a new personal and Algarve record”, added the athlete from Pechão.
“I'm now going to rest for a few weeks to face the new season, which will be long, with the same determination as the last ones, having as main objectives the participation in the Marching World Cup to be held in Russia (May) and especially the participation in the Games London Olympics. I will work hard to be one of the chosen ones”, guaranteed Ana Cabecinha.
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