On the first Saturday of May, the 52nd International Sports Walking Festival “Alytus 2026“. At the same time, it is – World Athletics silver round competition and the first Lithuanian athletic walking half marathon championship. In the latter, Austėja Kavaliauskaitė, the country’s most capable walker without competition, won gold, while young athletes dominated among men.
Health challenges and ambitious goals
This year, almost 200 walkers from several dozen countries of the world gathered for the traditional competition in the capital of Dzūkija. The most resilient athletes competed in the main distance – half marathon. A. Kavaliauskaitė performed very successfully here – she covered the distance in 1 hour 42 minutes 27 seconds. and took 3rd place, behind only the Ukrainian Lyudmyla Olianovska (1 hour 34 minutes 18 seconds) and the Brazilian Mayara Luize Vicentaine (1 hour 40 minutes 37 seconds). Austėja overtook Lithuania’s closest rival – Nadezhda Novikova – by more than 20 minutes, so she confidently won the gold medal of the Lithuanian championship.
Despite winning two medals, the athlete admits that there was no shortage of challenges on the track, and she herself hoped to perform better. “The start was not the easiest. The first half of the competition was quite good, according to plan, but in the second half my digestion stopped, so the pace slowed down, and the final result was not what we wanted. The competition itself and the conditions were really good, the competitors were strong,” A. Kavaliauskaitė shares her impressions.
She adds that the worse well-being could also have been caused by the intense period of competition – just three weeks ago, the athlete participated in the World Athletic Walking Team Championships in Brazil, and at the beginning of March she covered the same distance – half marathon – at a record speed (1 hour 40 minutes 14 seconds) in Slovakia. “I already want to rest…” – summarizes the most capable walker in the country.
When asked about the main goals of this season, A. Kavaliauskaitė does not hesitate to answer that it is August 10-16. The European Athletics Championships will take place in Birmingham (UK). 35 of the strongest walkers from the Old Continent will compete in it, Austėja is currently in 24th place in the qualification ranking.
The first pancake did not shine
Although the country’s young male walkers do not have such ambitious goals yet, their performance in Alytus was pleasantly surprising. Twenty-year-old Lukas Lasevičius , who completed the half marathon distance for the first time, triumphed in the Lithuanian championship (1 hour 45 minutes 13 seconds), silver was awarded to Tauras Jokūbas Grincevičius , who celebrated his 22nd birthday just a few days ago (1 hour 46 minutes 18 seconds), and the third place was enjoyed by the experienced 45-year-old walker Darius Jazepčikas (1 hour 47 minutes 01 seconds).
Interestingly, both A. Kavaliauskaitė, L. Lasevičius and T. J. Grincevičius are coached by former walker, Olympian Viktoras Meškauskas, and all three walkers covered a large part of the distance together. The team’s camaraderie and Austėja’s example probably inspire the young walkers of the country as well.
The international festival was dominated by Ukrainians – Mykola Rushchak won the first place (1 hour 26 minutes 16 seconds), the second place was won by Serhii Svitlychnyi (1 hour 28 minutes 46 seconds), and the third place was won by Eduard Muravskyi (1 hour 34 minutes 47 seconds).
Children, juniors, juniors, youth and masters competed in separate categories of the competition, while the Lithuanian Sports Walking Cup was won by the Kaunas team, slightly ahead of Švenčionis.
Photo by D. Kibirkščis.