Yamanishi sets world half marathon race walk record in Kobe

On his 30th birthday, Toshikazu Yamanishi gave himself the present of an inaugural world half marathon race walk record by clocking 1:20:34* at the Japanese Half Marathon Race Walking Championships – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze meeting – in Kobe on Sunday (15).

Younger competitors with pedigree were ready to cause an upset, but Yamanishi’s master class underlined the number one on his gold-coloured race bib. 

Striding away from a dwindling lead group shortly after 17km, Japan’s two-time world champion passed the 20km mark in 1:16:26 – only 16 seconds outside the world record for the 20km race walk he set on the same course last year.

He still had a lap and a bit to go but found another gear to notch a speedy 3:47 for the 21st loop of the course.

It is the first performance that surpasses the inaugural world record standard of 1:21:30 that was approved by the World Athletics Council in December, following the announcement that the half marathon and marathon would become the official senior road distances for race walking events.

Yamanishi, as part of a group of five, was well under world record pace from as early as halfway. 

The weather was kind for racing; a pleasant 11°C, although crowds lining the course still had warm coats to ward off the morning chill.

A large pack including world champion Caio Bonfim shot away at the start. The Brazilian was one of only two athletes without sunglasses, despite the overcast conditions.

The lead group had splintered by 3km, reached in 11:36, and Bonfim was in a second pack giving chase to a group of nine.

At 4km, the time was modest, at least modest by the standards of this stellar field. However, the gloves were off – literally for many – and 2km later the pace accelerated to hit 6km in 23:10.

Bonfim was already 50 metres behind and losing touch rapidly, with the spearhead passing 10km in 39:06.

Ahead of him, that lead group was proving stubborn. Kento Yoshikawa, Tomohiro Noda, Sotaro Osaka, Satoshi Maruo and Yuta Koga – all athletes with fast PBs – were hanging on to the quickening pace.

With lap times now around 3:50, something had to give. And so it proved.

With 4 kilometres to go, Yamanishi lit the afterburners to immediately open up a gap of 15 metres on Yoshikawa and Noda – the only pair to remain tenuously in touch.

The bespectacled leader glanced over his shoulder a couple of times at the remaining turns but he had already done enough damage to secure the win.

In fact, Yamanishi might have shaved off a couple more seconds on his new record, had he not opted to stroll the last few metres through the tape.

The birthday boy admitted he had been working on his technique to make sure there was no repeat of his penalty zone demise at last year’s World Championships.

“Based on my experience of the penalty zone at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, I realised I had a great opportunity to train with other athletes and be observed by other top coaches,” he said.

“I also realised that the first step would be to compare and consult with others.”

The top four all finished inside the inaugural world record standard. Closing fast, Yoshikawa improved his PB for 20km by some margin, with 1:16:38, and Noda did likewise, finishing third after recording 1:16:42 for that split.

Yoshikawa reached the finish line in 1:20:50, followed by Noda in 1:20:57 and Maruo in 1:21:25.

Bonfim made the finish just outside the standard in 1:21:44, but he eclipsed the 1:27:58 he recorded in January back home in Brazil. 

The women’s race quickly became a duel between Ayane Yanai and Yukiko Umeno.

In fact, from just after 3km the two held sway, passing 10km in 45:18 by which time everyone else was more than a lap in arrears.

Like Yamanishi in the men’s race, Umeno kept her powder dry until the last three laps and then went through the gears at a rate of knots.

In fact, by the finish in 1:35:01, she had put almost a minute between herself and the tiring Yanai, who came home second in 1:35:57.

Ayumi Sugibayashi was third in 1:39:43.

Paul Warburton for World Athletics

*Subject to the usual ratification procedure