Ma Zhenxia on her way to winning the women's 20km in Muscat (© Getty Images)
China claimed its third individual gold medal of the day (4), but this time it didn’t quite go to form in the women’s 20km at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22.
It was expected that world record-holder Yang Jiayu would dominate the race - and she did for the first 3km. In fact, she shot away from the gun on a blistering pace close to that breathtaking 1:23:49 she set just a year ago.
But in the heat of a Middle East afternoon, that dominance proved illusory.
Yang soon had to be content to form part of a trio that included Ma Zhenxia and Peru’s Kimberly Garcia for much of the next 15km. And with Garcia already feeling the pace in the final quarter, it was Yang’s turn.
Ma continued to keep her nose in front, as she had done for a considerable time, and heading towards 16km she was pushing for all her worth to put distance between herself and the world record-holder.
The tell-tale signs of Yang’s rolling head showed she was suffering.
All the way up the hill heading towards 16km she looked pained, and for Ma it seemed crossing the finish line for the eighth time was an incentive as she creviced a gap on her more illustrious teammate.
That decided the medals.
In fact, for a brief few moments it looked as if Yang was tiring so drastically over the final 2km that she might be reduced to a stagger and caught for second. She rallied, and collected a silver in 1:31:54 behind Ma’s finishing time of 1:30:22, with a distant Garcia winning Peru’s first ever medal of any sort at the World Race Walking Team Championships. Her 1:32:27 was only 3:31 behind her PB, which was astonishing in the conditions.
Behind the leading trio, Mexico’s Alegna Gonzalez and Nanako Fujii from Japan walked tandem for all but the first 5km, but over the final lap Gonzalez found another gear to ease away and claim a comfortable fourth.
For all that, Fujii’s walk was an unexpected bonus for a country whose men have thus far garnered all the attention.
Right from the start, there was two away with seven in attendance, and everyone else strung out over 100m in just the first two minutes. At the front, world record-holder Yang was accompanied by a brave Emily Ngii from Kenya living well outside her comfort zone.
It was 4:12 for 1km and 8:45 for a full 2km lap, showing how that uphill drag was already taking it out of the leading pair even in the early stages. The other three Chinese athletes were in touch, as was Garcia, but the third group on the road was already well out of contention.
Ngii paid the penalty for that fast start approaching 3km to quickly drop away. The next lap showed that even world record-holders are vulnerable.
Yang was caught by two of her teammates and Garcia just as they crossed 4km, 15 seconds slower than the first circuit.
That group lost Yang Liujing, to leave Yang Jiayu, Garcia and Ma battling up front. It was noticeable at the drinks station that Garcia was swapping caps, with presumably cooling qualities in each new headgear. She was certainly holding her own.
To the sounds of a djembe drum, flute and accompaniment, the leading trio beat out a steady rhythm to pass half way in 44:57, considerably slower than the initial pace. Then, just after 11km and striding up the hill, the Chinese pair put the hammer down.
Garcia couldn’t respond and was soon left hanging on to bronze in splendid isolation. By 13km, she was 16 seconds in arrears, but a long way ahead of Gonzalez and Japan’s Fujii.
Ma continued to push, and the cold water in her pink towel tucked around her neck seemed to have magical properties as she walked solo to the finish. The 23-year-old with a PB of 1:27:46, set last year in the same race as Yang’s world record, has won U18 and U20 world titles, but this was easily her best performance as a senior athlete.
Likewise, Garcia didn’t finish at the Olympic Games in Sapporo, but this time the 28-year-old Peruvian finished with aplomb.
The team prize comfortably went to China with three in the first seven.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
| LEADING RESULTS | ||
| 1 | Ma Zhenxia 🇨🇳 CHN | 1:30:22 |
| 2 | Yang Jiayu 🇨🇳 CHN | 1:31:54 |
| 3 | Kimberly Garcia Leon 🇵🇪 PER | 1:32:27 |
| Full results | ||
