The third race of this year’s EuroHeroes series, Saturday’s Mattoni Half Marathon Olomouc, significantly changed the situation at the top of the current standings. Following the Spanish double in the Haná region, Jorge Blanco and Carolina Robles moved to the lead of the series, with Robles additionally gracing the Olomouc race with a new European race record. Among the Czech representatives, Tereza Hrochová is performing the best, holding provisional second place with a minimal point gap.
The EuroHeroes project, organized by RunCzech and supported by European Athletics, was created with the aim of supporting and raising the visibility of elite European runners. After the half marathons in Karlovy Vary and České Budějovice, the runners competed in Olomouc, and the series will culminate in the autumn in Ústí nad Labem. According to the competition rules, each athlete’s two highest-scoring results based on the Hungarian tables are included in the final rankings.
In the women’s category, there was a change in the leading position. The previous British leader, Natasha Wilson, did not start in Olomouc, which led to her drop to provisional third place (2,145 points). Spaniard Carolina Robles moved to the top. For her winning performance in Olomouc, combined with breaking the European race record, she received 1,140 points. In combination with her previous start, she now has 2,254 points to her name. In second place, thanks to two completely balanced performances, is the best Czech endurance runner, Tereza Hrochová. On the Haná course, she repeated the points tally from her previous start in the series (equally 1,112 points) and, with a total score of 2,224 points, trails the leading Robles by a mere 30 points. The successful record of the Czech representatives is complemented by Michaela Čepová, who is the only elite female runner to have completed all three races so far and holds provisional fourth place with 2,111 points.
Among the men, last year’s series winner, Khalid Choukoud from the Netherlands, lost his provisional lead. Although he recorded a solid 1,012 points in Olomouc, within the reduced standings of the two best results, he dropped to fourth place (2,003 points). The new leader of the EuroHeroes Challenge is the Spanish representative and Olomouc winner, Jorge Blanco, who has collected a total of 2,109 points. Ukrainian Mykola Mevsha figures in second place (2,083 points), and German Jan Lukas Becker closes out the elite top three (2,029 points).
Other runners, such as Damián Vích or Patrik Vebr, have only one start under their belts. And it is precisely Damián Vích who, as the winner of the first race, still has a chance for the overall victory, and in the case of a time of 1:03 or better, he could even move ahead of the currently leading Blanco.
The overall winners of this year’s edition will be decided at the final event of the series, the Mattoni Half Marathon Ústí nad Labem on September 19. Just like all other half marathons in the EuroHeroes series (Karlovy Vary, České Budějovice & Olomouc), it was also awarded the prestigious “World Athletics Road Race Label” this year as well. So far, almost 70 athletes from 16 European countries have participated in the three half marathons of the EuroHeroes series.
Current standings of the EuroHeroes Challenge (after 3 out of 4 races):
Men:
- Jorge Blanco (ESP) – 2109 pts. (1045 + 1064)
- Mykola Mevsha (UKR) – 2083 pts. (1035 + 1048)
- Jan Lukas Becker (GER) – 2029 pts. (1032 + 997)
- Khalid Choukoud (NED) – 2003 pts. (991 + 1012)
- Artur Bossy (ESP) – 1945 pts. (994 + 951)
- Lahsene Bouchikhi (BEL) – 1922 pts. (955 + 967)
- Matěj Hrebačka (CZE) – 1799 pts. (887 + 912)
- David Vaš (CZE) – 1672 pts. (845 + 827)
- Jiří Homoláč (CZE) – 1655 pts. (835 + 820)
Women:
- Carolina Robles (ESP) – 2254 pts. (1114 + 1140)
- Tereza Hrochová (CZE) – 2224 pts. (1112 + 1112)
- Natasha Wilson (GBR) – 2145 pts. (1067 + 1078)
- Michaela Čepová (CZE) – 2111 pts. (1058 + 1053)
- Kristina Hendel (GER) – 2031 pts. (1001 + 1030)
- Cristina Silva (ESP) – 1952 pts. (987 + 965)
- Hana Homolková (CZE) – 1883 pts. (938 + 945)
- Barbora Vahalíková (CZE) – 1699 pts. (846 + 853)
