Kimberly Garcia on her way to the 20km title at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Antalya 24 (© Sergio Mateo)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2024 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
| 1:24:31 | Elvira Chepareva (RUS) | Sochi | 27 February |
| 1:24:47 | Reykhan Kagramanova (RUS) | Sochi | 27 February |
| 1:25:54 | Yang Jiayu (CHN) | Paris | 1 August |
| 1:26:07 | Ma Zhenxia (CHN) | Taicang | 3 March |
| 1:26:19 | Maria Perez (ESP) | Paris | 1 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Yang Jiayu (CHN) | 1332 |
| 2 | Maria Perez (ESP) | 1326 |
| 3 | Jemima Montag (AUS) | 1323 |
| 4 | Kimberly Garcia (PER) | 1300 |
| 5 | Alegna Gonzalez (MEX) | 1295 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Yang Jiayu (CHN) | 1:25:54 SB |
| 🥈 | Maria Perez (ESP) | 1:26:19 SB |
| 🥉 | Jemima Montag (AUS) | 1:26:25 AR |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Yang Jiayu (CHN) 1:25:54
World Athletics Race Walking Tour: Yang Jiayu (CHN) 3998
World Race Walking Team Championships: Kimberly Garcia (PER) 1:27:12
European Championships: Antonella Palmisano (ITA) 1:28:08
African Championships: Sintayehu Masire (ETH) 1:37:46
Oceanian Championships: Jemima Montag (AUS) 1:27:09
World U20 Championships (10,000m): Baima Zhuoma (CHN) 43:26.60
Season snapshot
- The seventh edition of the women’s 20km race walk at the Olympic Games delivered a fourth title to powerhouse China, as 2017 world champion Yang Jiayu triumphed by 25 seconds in Paris. Yang gapped the field at the 5km mark and, try as they might, the large and well-credentialed chasing back could not track her down.
Yang Jiayu on her way to 20km race walk victory at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Dan Vernon)
- World champion Maria Perez of Spain proved to be the best of the rest (silver in 1:26:19), fending off Australia’s Jemima Montag (1:26:25), who added Olympic bronze to her world silver from Hungary last year.
- Earlier in the year, 2022 world champion Kimberly Garcia triumphed at the World Race Walking Team Championships, while Tokyo Olympic champion Antonella Palmisano, who did not finish the Paris race, took the European title at home in Rome.
- Yang Jiayu was confirmed as the overall winner in the World Athletics Race Walking Tour, adding a runner-up finish in Taicang and a sixth-place spot in a high-quality race in La Coruna to her Olympic title win.
- Two Russian athletes head the top list for the year – Elvira Chepareva (1:24:32) and Reykhan Kagramanova (1:24:47) – but their times were set in Sochi in February, in conditions much more conducive to fast times than Paris in August. Neither athlete was on the starting line in Paris due to Russia’s ongoing suspension from international sport.
Men’s 20km race walk
Season top list
| 1:16:51 | Koki Ikeda (JPN) | Kobe | 18 February |
| 1:17:26 | Zhang Jun (CHN) | Taicang | 3 March |
| 1:17:26 | Massimo Stano (ITA) | Taicang | 3 March |
| 1:17:42 | Ryo Hamanishi (JPN) | Kobe | 18 February |
| 1:17:44 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | Taicang | 3 March |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | 1372 |
| 2 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | 1362 |
| 3 | Brian Pintado (ECU) | 1356 |
| 4 | Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) | 1335 |
| 5 | Evan Dunfee (CAN) | 1326 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Brian Pintado (ECU) | 1:18:55 |
| 🥈 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | 1:19:09 |
| 🥉 | Alvaro Martin (ESP) | 1:19:11 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Brian Pintado (ECU) 1:18:55
World Athletics Race Walking Tour: Caio Bonfim (BRA) 4072
World Race Walking Team Championships: Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) 1:18:49
European Championships: Perseus Karlstrom (SWE) 1:19:13
African Championships: Misgana Wakuma (ETH) 1:22:49
Oceanian Championships: Evan Dunfee (CAN) 1:19:23 (first place), Kyle Swan (AUS) 1:19:52 (first from Oceania)
World U20 Championships (10,000m): Rayen Cherni (TUN) 39:24.85
Season snapshot
- Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom started the season in fine form, winning the 20km at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya in April and then the European title in Rome in June, but he faded out of the medal race in Paris in August.
- Instead, it was South America’s day in the sun in Paris, as Ecuador’s Brian Pintado claimed the first athletics gold medal of the Games after a fascinating duel with Brazil’s Caio Bonfim over the closing kilometres. Pintado (1:18:55) continued his country’s fine tradition in this event, becoming the second Ecuadorian to win this title after 1996 champion Jefferson Perez.
Brian Pintado on his way to winning the men's 20km race walk at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Christel Saneh for World Athletics)
- Budapest bronze medallist Bonfim moved up to silver in Paris (1:19:09), gaining his first Olympic medal and holding off world champion Alvaro Martin (1:19:11), who took the bronze ahead of defending champion Massimo Stano in fourth.
- It was Bonfim who claimed the overall title in the World Athletics Race Walking Tour, his consistency rewarded after he achieved podium finishes in all his five tour races. His score of 4072 put him just four points ahead of Pintado.
- The two fastest races of 2024 came in Taicang (Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix) and Kobe (the Japanese Race Walking Championships) in the first quarter of the year, producing the top seven times. Taicang, part of the World Athletics Race Walking Tour, produced a thrilling finish after winner Zhang Jun and runner-up Stano could only be separated by a photo finish after both clocked 1:17:26, the equal second fastest times of the year. But Japan’s Koki Ikeda set the fastest time this year in Kobe, winning his national title in 1:16:51, which places him third on the all-time list.
Women’s 35km race walk
Season top list
| 2:40:23 | Klavdiya Afanasyeva (RUS) | Sochi | 27 February |
| 2:45:31 | Olivia Sandery (AUS) | Melbourne | 15 December |
| 2:45:55 | Katarzyna Zdzieblo (POL) | Zittau | 26 October |
| 2:46:44 | Lorena Arenas (COL) | Zittau | 26 October |
| 2:47:26 | Elizabeth McMillen (AUS) | Melbourne | 15 December |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Viviane Lyra (BRA) | 1230 |
| 2 | Lorena Arenas (COL) | 1151 |
| 3 | Masumi Fuchise (JPN) | 1142 |
| 4 | Alejandra Ortega (MEX) | 1136 |
| 5 | Viktoria Madarasz (HUN) | 1126 |
Major winners
South American Championships: Viviane Lyra (BRA) 2:52.26
Season snapshot
- There were limited opportunities over the 35km race walk in 2024 as the event was not on the programme for the Olympics or the World Race Walking Team Championships. The best race of the year was at the Lusatian International Race Walking Meeting held in Zittau in Germany in October, where two of the top five times of the year were set.
- Poland’s Katarzyna Zdzieblo was the winner there in 2:45:55, the third-fastest time of the year, and she was followed home by Colombia’s Lorena Arenas (2:46:44) and Italy’s Nicole Colombi (2:47:29).
- Russia’s Klavdiya Afanasyeva had by far the fastest time of the year, 2:40:23 set in Sochi in February, but did not compete internationally due to the Russian Federation ban.
- In a late entry to the top list, Australia’s Olivia Sandery, coached by 2012 Olympic 50km champion Jared Tallent, charged into the top five at No.2 in December, setting a national record of 2:45:31 to win the Australian title in Melbourne, displacing compatriot Rebecca Henderson (2:47:34), who was shuffled down from No. 5 to No.7 on the list. Another Australian athlete – Elizabeth McMillen – also made the top five with a 2:47:26 performance in Melbourne.
- Brazil’s Viviane Lyra ends the year with the world No.1 ranking courtesy of a win at the South American Championships, following on from her fourth-place finish at the World Championships in Budapest last year.
Men’s 35km race walk
Season top list
| 2:21:47 | Masatora Kawano (JPN) | Takahata | 27 October |
| 2:24:19 | Massimo Stano (ITA) | Dublin | 15 December |
| 2:26:18 | Satoshi Maruo (JPN) | Takahata | 27 October |
| 2:26:15 | Ricardo Ortiz (MEX) | Dublin | 15 December |
| 2:26:25 | Kazuki Takahashi (JPN) | Takahata | 27 October |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Masatora Kawano (JPN) | 1323 |
| 2 | Evan Dunfee (CAN) | 1246 |
| 3 | Satoshi Maruo (JPN) | 1215 |
| 4 | Andrea Agrusti (ITA) | 1172 |
| 5 | Caio Bonfim (BRA) | 1170 |
Major winners
South American Championships: Diego Pereira Lima (BRA) 3:11:40
Season snapshot
- With no global championship available over 35km this year, the All Japan Race Walking meeting in Takahata in October became the feature event, attracting race walkers from around the world to test themselves against the best competition available. Consequently, the race produced the first official world record over the relatively new distance, and four of the top six times of the year, all by Japanese athletes.
- Two-time world medallist Masatora Kawano claimed the world record in 2:21:47, although his time was 16 seconds outside the 18-year-old world best. Kawano was more than three minutes clear of second-placed Satoshi Maruo in Takahata.
- Italy's Massimo Stano made his mark late in the season, clocking 2:24:19 to win at the World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze meeting in Dublin on 15 December. That time is the second-fastest of his career and an automatic qualifying mark for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next September. He won by almost two minutes ahead of Ricardo Ortiz of Mexico.
Marathon race walk mixed relay
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Spain (Alvaro Martin, Maria Perez) | 2:50:31 |
| 🥈 | Ecuador (Brian Pintado, Glenda Morejon) | 2:51:22 |
| 🥉 | Australia (Rhydian Cowley, Jemima Montag) | 2:51:38 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Spain 2:50:31
World Race Walking Team Championships: Italy 2:56:45
Season snapshot
- The World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya served as both a qualifying event and a rehearsal for the newest athletics event on the Olympic schedule, comprising teams of two athletes (one male, one female) racing alternately to complete four legs of approximately 10km over the marathon distance of 42.195km.
- Italy’s No.2 team of Francesco Fortunato and Valentina Trapletti won the event in Antalya (2:56:45), 19 seconds clear of Japan, with Spain a further 43 seconds behind.
- However, when it came to the Games, Spain brought its A team, comprising Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez. Both world champions in Budapest, they dominated to win the inaugural Olympic gold medal in 2:50:31.
Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez after winning the marathon race walk mixed relay in Paris (© Getty Images)
- Ecuador’s 20km gold medallist Brian Pintado combined with 2017 world U18 champion Glenda Morejon to take the silver medal (2:51:22), while 20km bronze medallist Jemima Montag teamed with triple Olympian Rhydian Cowley to take the bronze for Australia.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics
