China’s Liu Hong broke the women’s 20km race walk world record* with 1:24:38 at the Gran Premio Cantones de Marcha – the Spanish leg of the 2015 IAAF Race Walking Challenge in La Coruna – on Saturday (6).
The former recognised world record was 1:25:02, set by Russia’s Yelena Lashmanova when winning at the London 2012 Olympic Games, although there had been faster times of 1:24:50 and 1:24:54 by her compatriots Olimpiada Ivanova and Olga Kaniskina that had not been recognised due to not fulfilling world record ratification requirements concerning the number of international judges present.
photo credit: dietadeporte
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Assuming Liu’s record is ratified, the three-time IAAF World Championships medallist rectifies this situation in the record books.
In almost perfect conditions, close to the sea front of the Atlantic coastal city, Liu covered the first 10 1km laps in 42:38 before posting a stunning negative split over the second 10km of 42:00.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedures
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