World and Olympic champion Liu Hong, competing for the first time in 11 months, won the women's 20km race walk at China’s Autumn Race Walking Championships in Taian on Sunday (20).

Asia may have been the first continent that was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, but strict guidelines remain in place across many countries, and there is still some uncertainty about when and how competition will resume.

Three-time world 20km race walk champion and 50km world record-holder Liu Hong will lead a strong Chinese contingent aiming to win both the individual and team titles at the Around Taihu International Race Walking competition, the last leg of this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge that will start on Sunday (20).

A mother is always as good as gold in her children’s eyes, but for three new mothers at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, that saying will take on a new meaning after this week.

Liu Hong’s world 50km race walk record of 3:59:15 and Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s world U20 indoor 1500m record of 3:36.02 have been ratified.

As any athlete knows, it’s one thing to have a good race now and then, but getting the job done frequently over five years makes you something special.

Due in no small part to the high temperatures in the early afternoon in Pontal, it took a while for the real racing to begin. A large pack went through 4km in 18:28, but it had reduced to 15 women by 6km, which was reached in 36:25.

World champion Liu Hong has been unbeaten since March 2015, making the world record-holder the big favourite for the women’s 20km race walk in Rio.

For the second consecutive year, Chinese race walkers Liu Hong and Wang Zhen took the honours at the XXX Gran Premio Cantones de La Coruna 2016, the Spanish leg of this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge, on Saturday (28).

Miguel Angel Lopez and Liu Hong will race over the distances at which they won their world titles in Beijing last summer at the XXX Gran Premio Cantones de La Coruna 2016, the Spanish leg of this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge, on Saturday (28).

With her 20km victory at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships Rome 2016, Liu Hong is one step close to completing the grand slam of major race walking titles.

On the eve of the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships Rome 2016, three of the world’s top race walkers spoke at the IAAF/LOC press conference in the sunny Loggia Garden at the Sheraton Parco de Medici in the Italian capital on Friday (6).