Kimberly Garcia in the 35km race walk at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (© Getty Images)
Peru’s Kimberly Garcia won the first ever 35km race walk to be held at the World Athletics Championships, a week after securing gold in the women’s 20km event, followed home, as in the earlier race, by Poland’s Katarzyna Zdzieblo of Poland and China’s Qieyang Shijie.
In earning both race walking golds at a global championships, the 28-year-old from Huancayo emulated the great Polish race walker Robert Korzeniowski, who won the men’s 20km and 50km events at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
As in the 20km race walk, Garcia went early to the lead and remained there, although she was accompanied for half the race by the Pole who had learned her race walking technique at a sports school set up by Korzeniowski.
The Peruvian crossed the line in a South American record of 2:39:16, four minutes inside her previous best and enough for equal third on the world all-time list, with Zdzieblo taking silver 2:40:03 and Qieyang, who was virtually alone for the whole race, earning bronze in an Asian record of 2:40:37.
Fourth place went to Greece’s Antigoni Ntrismpioti in a national record of 2:41:58 with Spain’s Raquel Gonzalez finishing fifth in a personal best of 2:42:27 ahead of her compatriot Laura Garcia-Caro in 2:42:45 – also a personal best.
By the time the field passed through the fourth kilometre, the pattern of the race was set, with Garcia and Zdzieblo pushing on at the front and Qieyang racing alone some way back, but well ahead of the chasing group of a dozen race walkers.
While the 31-year-old Chinese athlete, 2012 Olympic champion and world silver medallist at 20km three years ago in Doha, maintained admirable discipline on her lonely journey, she never looked likely either to catch the leading two or to be caught by those racing behind her on a day when cool and windless conditions favoured the field of 41 that set off at 6:15 local time.
After appearing to push the early pace, Zdzieblo was dropped by her Peruvian rival shortly after the halfway mark.
By the time Garcia, wearing sunglasses for most of the race despite the absence of any sunshine, passed the 20km marker in 1:31:49 – a time that would have earned her 13th place in last Friday’s 20km race walk – she had established an 11-second lead.
But the Pole, grimacing with the effort, found a second wind which enabled her to narrow that gap to just seven seconds at the 25km mark.
That was as close as she got, however, as the Peruvian pushed on again, inexorably, stretching the gap to 15 seconds by the 28km mark, and to 21 seconds as she went through 30km in 2:17:05.
Nothing was going to stop Garcia’s historic double achievement at this point, although it was only after she had crossed the finish line of the one-kilometre looped course on Eugene’s Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard that the impassive expression she had worn throughout gave way to a broad and relieved smile.
“I have always dreamed of making history in a sport I am so passionate about and that I have been practicing since the age of five,” said Garcia, who is coached by Ecuador’s 2015 Pan-American Games 50km champion Andres Chocho, who is contesting the men’s 35km on Sunday. “My plan was to set a steady pace until 20km and gradually increase the pace from there. That's what I did today.
“After my 20km win, I tried to stay well hydrated, to eat well to get ready for the 35km. I trained to finish strong in the last five kilometres. I can't wait to celebrate with my family when I arrive home and then reset to start preparing for the World Championships and the Pan American Games next year.”
Before last week’s race, Peru had never won a World Championship medal. Now, thanks to this 28-year-old from Huancayo, they have two golds. She is likely to have a decent reception when she arrives home…
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
| WOMEN'S 35km RACE WALK MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Kimberly Garcia Leon 🇵🇪 PER | 2:39:16 CR, AR |
| 🥈 | Katarzyna Zdzieblo 🇵🇱 POL | 2:40:03 NR |
| 🥉 | Qieyang Shijie 🇨🇳 CHN | 2:40:37 AR |
| Full results | ||
