Yamanishi breaks world 20km race walk record in Kobe

Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi clocked a superb 1:16:10* to smash the men’s world 20km race walk record at the Japanese 20km Race Walking Championships, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze event, in Kobe on Sunday (16).

With that performance the two-time world champion improved the previous world record of 1:16:36 set by his compatriot Yusuke Suzuki in Nomi in 2015 by 26 seconds - and the winner never looked the slightest bit bothered by his effort.

In fact, Yamanishi was sharing a joke with lapped athletes over the final kilometre to come home in style.

As befits tradition, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist – who had a previous PB of 1:17:15 set in 2019 – stopped immediately after crossing the line to bow to all four points of the compass. The world is his own for the time being, and his renaissance is complete.

A poor, by his standards, 2023 was rekindled too late for him to make the Japanese Olympic team for Paris, but his World Race Walking Tour win in La Coruna last May was just the uplift the 29-year-old needed.

There he clocked 1:17:47 against a world-class field, most of whom went on to compete in Paris. But nothing suggested the bespectacled race walker would produce this.

It had been raining in Kobe but was a fresh 7 degrees at the gun with the sun gamely trying to peep through the clouds. Several athletes wore arm warmers as they raced among the leading throng of 20 who were clear after the first 500m. 

Even the first 1km lap was a nifty 3:48.

The main contenders were immediately to the front, with Yamanishi, Hiroto Jusho, Satoshi Maruo, Keisuke Hara and Ryo Hamanshi among those with their noses out front by the end of a second kilometre in 7:48. Maruo and Yamanishi were spearheading the charge, but as they clocked 11:30 for 3km they still had plenty of company.

Eight became four by 5km (19:09). Yamanishi, Hamanishi, Yuta Koga and Maruo were together, with Kento Yoshikara (PB 1:19:12) straining to rejoin the leaders. By 8km, Koga – eighth at the Olympics last year – had become uncoupled, which was no big surprise considering halfway was an eye-watering 38:21.

Hamanishi was next to suffer as his shoulders tightened with just slightest of gaps forged as they passed 12km.

One lap later and Yamanishi put the hammer down. He sliced open a gap of 12 seconds in just half a lap. By 15km that gap had become a chasm. 

Yamanishi clocked 57:24 at 15km with the struggling Maruo and Hamanishi 24 seconds behind. Over the next couple of laps, Yamanishi was forced to go wide around the turns at either end of the 1km loop to pass not only lapped men but several women.

It phased him not one bit.

Out on his own, the leader was clearly on course for the world record as he reached 18km. Behind him, the gap between second and third was closing slightly, but Maruo still held a telling 13-second advantage over Hamanishi.

There was no doubt about the winner, who was congratulated by Italy's Tokyo Olympic champion Massimo Stano at the finish, and Maruo also cleaved himself a massive PB as he came home in 1:17:24. Behind them was a rejuvenated Yoshikawa, who clocked 1:17:38, and then Hamanishi, in 1:17:53.

In the open race, Brazil's Olympic silver medallist Caio Bonfim crossed the line in 1:17:37 to improve his own national record.

To underscore Japan's strength in depth, 11 athletes went under 1:20:00 and a massive 47 broke the 1:30:00 mark. 

Yamanishi’s bonus was the outright prize of a place in Japan’s team for the home World Championships, while Maruo’s terrific effort should also see him make the relatively short 230-mile journey from Kobe to Tokyo in September.

"I’m glad 'time' came along with my efforts today," said Yamanishi. "The guys made a good rhythm in the first half of the race and I figured I’d make a move in the latter part of the race. My movement didn’t really feel right in the beginning, it wasn’t easy, but I was able to make the adjustments to find the right rhythm. When I was planning my race, whatever happened in the race I was aiming for the world record. 

"With my performance today, I was able to express my appreciation towards my supporters who stuck along even during the last season when I was struggling."

Fujii sets national record

On a morning of landmarks, the women’s 20km race walk also produced a Japanese record for Nanako Fujii.

The race was even more processional than the men’s, with the record Fuji eclipsed having been set by the athlete finishing second in Kobe.

The winner’s 1:26:33 heft a big chunk from the 1:27:41 recorded by Kumiko Okada in 2019.

Okada this time came home in 1:28:17: her best since she set that national mark in La Coruna, but an agonising 17 seconds outside her own federation’s requirements for the World Championships team in Tokyo. However, this heartening performance still leaves the 33-year-old time to qualify.

To underline gaps throughout the field, third was the fast-finishing Yukiko Umeno in 1:31:02, nonetheless a PB by 1:19.

Fuji, Okada and five others were away and gone from the start. A time of 4:22 at the first check was their reward and they were well within the qualifying time for the World Championships.

Barely visible among the men, Okada and Fuji were cutting the rest adrift from lap two.

By 5km, Fuji had shot away on her own to record 21:43, with Okada five seconds back and Ayane Yanai three seconds behind her. They were the only three to dip under 22 minutes.

At halfway, and riding the coattails of lapped men, Fuji had clocked an impressive 43:25 to remain ahead of Okada who passed that point in 43:55. Yanai, though something of a rising star, was nearly a minute behind at that stage.

The gaps from first to fourth place at 15km were around a minute each. But a race that started 20 minutes after the men’s may have helped finishing times as the faster women clearly benefitted from passing the struggling men.

Even the winner felt the demand of the last two laps.

Fuji’s style became strained for the first time; her face etched with the effort as she glanced at her watch anxiously.

But there was never any doubt she was the second race walker of the day to carve her own piece of history.

Paul Warburton for World Athletics

Results

*Subject to the usual ratification procedure