Alvaro Martin wins the 35km race walk at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 (© Getty Images)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2023 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of the race walks and will conclude tomorrow with a review of the relays.
Women’s 20km race walk
Season top list
| 1:25:30 | Maria Perez (ESP) | Cordoba | 26 March |
| 1:26:40 | Kimberly Garcia (PER) | La Coruna | 3 June |
| 1:26:41 | Yang Jiayu (CHN) | Huangshan | 5 March |
| 1:26:43 | Ma Zhenxia (CHN) | Huangshan | 5 March |
| 1:26:48 | Wu Quanming (CHN) | La Coruna | 3 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Kimberly Garcia (PER) | 1331 |
| 2 | Maria Perez (ESP) | 1330 |
| 3 | Jemima Montag (AUS) | 1307 |
| 4 | Alegna Gonzalez (MEX) | 1293 |
| 5 | Glenda Morejon (ECU) | 1248 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Maria Perez (ESP) | 1:26:51 |
| 🥈 | Jemima Montag (AUS) | 1:27:16 AR |
| 🥉 | Antonella Palmisano (ITA) | 1:27:26 SB |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Maria Perez (ESP) 1:26:51
Asian Championships: Yang Liujing (CHN) 1:32.37
South American Championships: Mary Luz Andia (PER) 1:29:07.5
Pan-American Games: Kimberly Garcia (PER) NT (times annulled due to short course)
Asian Games: Yang Jiayu (CHN) 1:30:03
Season at a glance
Maria Perez completed a golden Spanish double in the 20km race walk as she won the women’s event at the start of day two at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
For the second time in less than 24 hours, Heroes’ Square belonged to Spain as Perez followed in the footsteps of Alvaro Martin in the lightning-delayed men’s 20km race walk the day before.
The prevailing conditions for the women’s race were markedly different, bright sunshine glinting off the sandstone structures lining the one-kilometre city centre course, but the tactics were just the same. Tellingly so.
Just as Martin had, Perez proceeded conservatively before putting the hammer down in the final 5km. The 27-year-old crossed the line in 1:26:51 – 25 seconds clear of her closest pursuer, the inspired two-time Commonwealth champion Jemima Montag, who upheld Australia’s fine race walk tradition with a silver medal in 1:27:16, an Oceanian record.
Ten seconds farther back, Antonella Palmisano, the Olympic champion from Italy, returned from injury to claim bronze in 1:27:26 – despite a potentially damaging mid-race fall.
For Perez, it was sweet redemption following the disqualification she suffered at last year’s World Championships in Oregon – and continuation of the golden streak of form that took her to the 35km world record in May.
“I cannot put into the words how important it is to me to win this first global gold, especially at the 20km,” the Andalucian said. “Victory at this distance was my main goal for Budapest.”
Montag became her country’s first world medallist in the women’s 20km since the bronze won by Kerry Saxby-Juna in the inaugural women’s 20km in Seville in 1999.
Kimberly Garcia, the Peruvian who had made history in Oregon as the first women’s double race walk winner, was in medal contention for most of the race, but eventually had to settle for fourth place in 1:27:32.
With six women finishing inside 1:28 and 10 women finishing inside 1:29, it was the highest quality 20km at any World Championships.
A record 65 sub-1:30 performances were achieved in 2023, 19 more than in 2022.
Men’s 20km race walk
Season top list
| 1:17:32 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | Budapest | 19 August |
| 1:17:38 | Zhang Jun (CHN) | Taicang | 8 April |
| 1:17:39 | Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) | Budapest | 19 August |
| 1:17:47 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | Budapest | 19 August |
| 1:18:03 | Evan Dunfee (CAN) | Budapest | 19 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | 1383 |
| 2 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | 1358 |
| 3 | Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) | 1355 |
| 4 | Brian Pintado (ECU) | 1317 |
| 5 | Christopher Linke (GER) | 1304 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | 1:17:32 WL |
| 🥈 | Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) | 1:17:39 NR |
| 🥉 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | 1:17:47 NR |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Alvaro Martin (ESP) 1:17:32
Asian Championships: Yutaro Murayama (JPN) 1:24:40
South American Championships: Luis Campos (PER) 1:21:25.6
Pan-American Games: David Hurtado (ECU) 1:19:20
Asian Games: Zhang Jun (CHN) 1:23:00
Season at a glance
Alvaro Martin became the first gold medallist at the World Athletics Championships as he won a storm-delayed 20km race walk.
The Spaniard took over from the bold long-time leader Koki Ikeda, Japan’s Olympic silver medallist, with five kilometres remaining before the finish in Heroes Square.
The 29-year-old, who had missed an Olympic medal in this event by one place in Tokyo in 2021, claimed his first global title in rain-swept conditions with a perfectly judged race that saw him come home in a world-leading 1:17:32.
Also judging his race superbly was Perseus Karlstrom, who had earned world bronze at 20km and 35km in Oregon the previous year and who earned a place one step higher on the podium with a Swedish record of 1:17:39, with bronze going to Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, who also set a national record of 1:17:47.
Canada’s 32-year-old Evan Dunfee, who earned bronze at the last 50km race walk events to be held at the Olympics and World Championships, demonstrated how effectively he has switched his racing focus by finishing strongly to place fourth in a national record of 1:18:03.
After the field flowed past Ikeda in the closing stages, he held on gamely to finish 15th in 1:19:44. Compatriot Toshikazu Yamanishi, seeking a third consecutive world title having beaten Ikeda to gold in Oregon the previous year, had no success on the day as he dropped out of contention before the halfway point and finished 24th in 1:21:39. It meant that Yuta Koga was surprisingly the top Japanese finisher, placing 12th in 1:19:02.
There was disappointment for Italy’s Olympic champion Massimo Stano, who never figured in the leading contenders and failed to finish the race.
National records were also set by the fifth and sixth-place finishers Christopher Linke of Germany, who clocked 1:18:12, and Veli-Matti Partanan of Finland, who recorded 1:18:22.
The next two finishers – Brian Pintado of Ecuador and Australia’s Declan Tingay – set personal bests of 1:18:26 and 1:18:30 respectively.
Portugal’s 47-year-old Joao Vieira, making his 13th World Athletics Championship appearance – equalling the record held by Spanish race walker Jesus Angel Garcia – finished an honourable 33rd of the 47 finishers in 1:23:37.
It was one of the deepest races in history – and the best ever at a major championships – as a record 18 men finished inside 1:20. For the first time ever at a global championships, three men finished inside 1:18 and 10 men finished inside 1:19.
The depth in Budapest was reflected on the 2023 world lists, as a record 40 men clocked sub-1:20 times this year.
All of the Gold level 20km races on the World Race Walking Tour (Dudince, Taicang, Warsaw, Rio Maior, Podebrady and La Coruna) were all won in sub-1:20 performances.
Bonfim’s consistency across the series – and his victories in Warsaw and La Coruna – contributed to him winning the World Race Walking Tour ahead of Karlstrom.
Women’s 35km race walk
Season top list
| 2:37:11 | Klavdiya Afanasyeva (RUS) | Saransk | 20 May |
| 2:37:15 | Maria Perez (ESP) | Podebrady | 21 May |
| 2:37:44 | Kimberly Garcia (PER) | Dudince | 25 March |
| 2:38:42 | Liu Hong (CHN) | Wajima | 16 April |
| 2:40:59 | Bai Xueying (CHN) | Huangshan | 4 March |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Maria Perez (ESP) | 1450 |
| 2 | Kimberly Garcia (PER) | 1440 |
| 3 | Antigoni Ntrismpioti (GRE) | 1361 |
| 4 | Viviane Lyra (BRA) | 1299 |
| 5 | Cristina Montesinos (ESP) | 1290 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Maria Perez (ESP) | 2:38:40 CR |
| 🥈 | Kimberly Garcia (PER) | 2:40:52 |
| 🥉 | Antigoni Ntrismpioti (GRE) | 2:43:22 SB |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Maria Perez (ESP) 2:38:40
Season at a glance
Spain’s Maria Perez completed a golden double here as she added the 35km race walk title to the 20km gold she had won earlier at the World Championships in Budapest.
In an event that had been introduced to the World Championships the previous year, Perez won in a championship record of 2:38:40 as she finished more than two minutes clear of Peru’s defending champion Kimberly Garcia, whose world double in Oregon last year Perez has now matched.
The achievement of the world record-holder completed a ‘double double’ for Spain shortly after compatriot Alvaro Martin had done the same in the men’s competition.
Garcia clocked 2:40:52, with Greece’s Antigoni Ntrismpioti claiming bronze in 2:43:22, one place ahead of Viviane Lyra, who set a Brazilian record of 2:44:40.
Peru’s defending champion had finished fourth in the 20km race walk, but her prospects were stronger over the longer distance. Having set a South American record of 2:39:16 in Oregon, she improved on that with a world record of 2:37:44 in March this year.
Two months later, however, Perez took 29 seconds off that mark with her 2:37:15 victory in Podebrady, and in their only pre-championships meeting this year, over 20km, Garcia had come out on top.
But Perez arrived in Budapest undefeated at 35km in all four of her career races – and there was never a moment when a fifth victory looked seriously under threat.
Poland’s Katarzyna Zdzieblo, a double silver medallist at last year’s World Championships, was in contact with the lead over the opening 20 kilometres, but she slipped back and was eventually disqualified.
Garcia’s season ended with her being confirmed as overall women’s winner in the 2022-2023 World Athletics Race Walking Tour.
The scoring system combines each athlete’s three best world ranking performances from the series.
A month after recording her world record in the 35km event in Dudince, she was victorious over 20km in Warsaw and then finished just off of the podium in Rio Maior a couple of weeks later.
Men’s 35km race walk
Season top list
| 2:22:55 | He Xianghong (CHN) | Huangshan | 4 March |
| 2:23:13 | Tomohiro Noda (JPN) | Wajima | 16 April |
| 2:24:19 | Sergey Kozhevnikov (RUS) | Sochi | 13 February |
| 2:24:30 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | Budapest | 24 August |
| 2:24:34 | Brian Pintado (ECU) | Budapest | 24 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | 1394 |
| 2 | Masatora Kawano (JPN) | 1383 |
| 3 | Brian Pintado (ECU) | 1377 |
| 4 | Massimo Stano (ITA) | 1364 |
| 5 | Evan Dunfee (CAN) | 1335 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | 2:24:30 NR |
| 🥈 | Brian Pintado (ECU) | 2:24:34 AR |
| 🥉 | Masatora Kawano (JPN) | 2:25:12 SB |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Alvaro Martin (ESP) 2:24:30
Season at a glance
Spain’s Alvaro Martin, winner of the 20km race walk on the opening day of the World Championships in Budapest, completed a golden double as he proved to be a hero again in Heroes Square by claiming the men’s 35km title.
The 29-year-old, whose victory in the shorter race was his first global success following European 20km wins in 2018 and 2022, waited until the final kilometre before moving past Ecuador’s Brian Pintado to establish a swift and decisive lead, finishing in a national record of 2:24:30.
It was the first part of a Spanish “double double” as, shortly afterwards, his teammate Maria Perez, winner of the women’s 20km event, also added a second gold over 35km, the women having set off with the men at 7am, a time selected to mitigate the effects of the heatwave.
Pintado, despite clearly struggling with the intense conditions, took silver in a South American record of 2:24:34.
Bronze went to Masatora Kawano of Japan, silver medallist in this event at the previous year’s World Championships, who finished in 2:25:12 after managing to keep at bay the challenge of Canada’s Evan Dunfee, who placed fourth – just as he had in the 20km race – in 2:25:28.
Germany’s Christopher Linke, always involved in the leading group, was fifth in a national record of 2:25:35, with Japan’s Tomohiro Noda sixth in 2:25:50 and Italy’s defending champion Massimo Stano, who faded during the closing stages, seventh in 2:25:59.
Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden, seeking to add to the 20km silver he won on Saturday, figured only briefly in the lead group before finishing eighth in 2:27:03.
China’s He Xianghong, fifth in Oregon last year in a national record of 2:24:45, and an Asian record breaker with 2:22:55 earlier this year, also slipped from the lead group in the final kilometres, finishing 23rd in 2:37:21.
Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, who had taken bronze over 20km, was 10th in this race in 2:27:45.
Spain’s 35-year-old European champion – and 2015 world champion over 20km – Miguel Angel Lopez had led the men through 5km but eventually finished 12th in 2:29:32.
Martin’s time in the blazing conditions put him fourth on the 2023 world list, which was topped by He’s 2:22:55 in Huangshan in March.
Japan’s Tomohiro Noda was second on the list with 2:23:13, and Russia’s Sergey Kozhevnikov third with 2:24:19.
Outside of the World Championships, the most competitive 35km races were held in Dudince and Podebrady. Mexico’s Jose Luis Doctor won in Dudince in 2:26:37, but he focused on the 20km for the rest of the season. Three months before his World Championships double, Martin won the 35km at the European Team Championships in Podebrady, finishing 90 seconds clear of Linke.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
