The 20-kilometre march that was to mark the start of the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships this Saturday was rescheduled for two hours later, at 10:50 a.m. local time (09:50 a.m. in Lisbon), due to the forecast of electric storms. announced the organization.
“Due to the forecast of thunderstorms, the start of the 20-kilometer walk was postponed two hours, to 10:50 a.m. The storm should last 90 minutes,” reads the World Athletics statement, distributed in the conference room. route press. races in the Hungarian capital, advising that the program at the stadium will not be affected.
Initially scheduled for 08:50 local time (07:50 in Lisbon), the road race was delayed two hours, after the athletes warmed up, leaving the opening of the competition for the tests at the National Athletics Center.
In this way, the 19th edition of the World Championship will begin at 10:30 a.m. (9:30 a.m.), with the shot put qualification, in which the Portuguese Francisco Belo and Tsanko Arnaudov compete.
The 47-year-old veteran walker from Sporting João Vieira, who will make his 13th appearance in the competition, equals the Spanish Jesús Bragado, current record holder, in the 20-kilometre race, he should debut with Portugal in the World Cups.
The first road test in Budapest 2023 will run through the streets of the UNESCO world heritage city, starting and ending at Heroes’ Square.
João Vieira’s best results at the World Championships include a silver medal over 50 kilometers in Doha 2019 and a third place over 20 kilometers in Moscow 2013.
Also during the morning, Portugal will line up for the first time in the 4×400 meter relay heats, with Ricardo dos Santos, Cátia Azevedo, Omar Elkhatib and Fatoumata Diallo, whose final is still scheduled for today, before Marta Pen and Salomé Afonso dispute the heats of the 1,500 meters.
At the same distance, but already in the afternoon session, Isaac Nader, who has already managed to qualify for Paris 2024, will play the qualifiers, with a view to being in the semifinals, on Saturday, and the final, scheduled for Wednesday fair.
Without Pedro Pablo Pichardo, who was unable to defend his world title in the triple jump that he won in Oregon 2022, due to low back pain that kept him outdoors for much of the season, the national representation in the specialty is reduced to Tiago Luís Pereira. , which is presented today with the modest best mark of the year of 16.51 meters, the 18th among the 19 participants of Group B classified for the final -insured for jumps greater than 17.15-.
Source: TSF
