Yamanishi retains 20km race walk title

EUGENE: Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi produced a brutal final kick to defend his world men’s 20km race walk title in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday.

Yamanishi timed 1hr 19min 07sec in a Japanese 1-2 as compatriot Koki Ikeda took silver, seven seconds off the winning pace.

It was a repeat of the result at March’s World Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat. Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden, 2019 world bronze medallist and Muscat 35km champion, claimed a second bronze just ahead of Kenya’s Gathimba.

A 13-strong leading pack streaked through the halfway mark in 40:33 on the one-kilometre looped course starting and finishing on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard in front of Autzen Stadium, a short hop over the river.