PARIS: Peru’s Kimberly Garcia Leon broke the 35km race walk world record on Saturday with a time of two hours 37 minutes and 44 seconds in Dudince, Slovakia.

The world champion in both the 20km and 35 km walk broke the previous record of 2:38:24 set by Russian Klavdiya Afanasyeva in 2019, in a warning to her rivals ahead of the Paris Olympics next year.

China’s Liu Hong came in second in an Asian record of 2:40:06. At Paris 2024, there will only be one race of 20km for the women and a 35km mixed team race walk.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023