For the first time in the event’s history, the competition will be held in South America – and in the Southern Hemisphere – marking a significant moment for the discipline and for the sport more broadly. The marathon race walk is the first event at the start at 6:45
Weather forecast this early morning in Brasilia: mostly cloudy until 8 AM; temperature increasing from 19° C to 21° C; humidity around 80%-90%; wind from East around 15 km/h with gusts max 30 km/h. The course is a 2 km loop for the marathon and 10 km distances.
Race Walk Marathon – Men
Japan’s Hayato Katsuki delivered a commanding performance to win the marathon race walk at the Caixa World Athletics Race Walking Championships Brasilia 26 on Sunday (12), claiming the inaugural title over the newly introduced distance in 3:04:58. Ecuador’s Pan American Games champion David Hurtado produced a strong finish to take the silver medal in 3:05:57, securing his first podium place at a senior global event. Japan’s Kazuya Iwai followed closely behind to claim bronze.
Japan comfortably secured top spot in the team standings, with Subaru Ishida as the third to score coming in ninth place. Italy finished second thanks to a consistent team performance, led by 35km world record-holder Massimo Stano in fifth, followed by Riccardo Orsoni in seventh and Andrea Agrusti in eighth. Spain, winners of the team title in 2024, claimed bronze, with Manuel Bermudez, Daniel Chamosa and Jose Manuel Perez all finishing in the top 16.
From the outset, it was clear that Katsuki was in a class of his own, marching away from the field soon after the starting gun sounded. The world bronze medallist covered the opening kilometre in 4:20 and quickly established a decisive gap. By the 50-minute mark, he had built a lead of more than 90 seconds – a margin that grew even further as the race progressed. Italy’s Orsoni briefly emerged as the closest pursuer, but he was later overtaken by Hurtado and Iwai.
Katsuki had employed similarly bold tactics at last year’s World Championships before he was caught in the closing stages of the 35km. Here in Brasilia, though, his tactics paid off and he eventually crossed the line almost a minute ahead of the rest of the field.
Sweden’s Perseus Karlström, winner of the 20km at these championships in 2024 and the 35km in 2022, fell ill after arriving in Brasilia and did not make it to the start line.
Annika Saunus for World Athletics
Race Walk Marathon – Women
Ecuador’s Paula Torres achieved the biggest victory of her career so far when winning the women’s marathon – and the team title – at the Caixa World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Brasilia 26 on Sunday (12). Much like men’s marathon winner Hayato Katsuki, Torres made an early break from the rest of the field and built up an insurmountable leading margin. The world bronze medallist finished in 3:24:37 – the second-fastest time ever recorded for the new race-walking distance.
With four finishers in the top nine – including third-place finisher Nathaly Leon – Ecuador also took gold in the team standings. Italy’s 21-year-old Sofia Fiorini took individual and team silver. Torres came into the championships as one of the favourites, though the 25-year-old was making her debut at the distance and contesting the longest race of her career so far, so was venturing into the unknown. She showed no fear, though, as she broke away in the first kilometre. No one in the rest of the field had any interest in going with the Ecuadorian so early into the race, and they allowed her to pull away with each lap. At one point, Torres’ lead over the rest of the field was up to three minutes. In the second half, the chase pack realised they had their work cut out to catch Torres and so started to ramp up the pace.
At about 24km, home favourite Viviane Lyra had formed a chase trio alongside Fiorini and her Italian teammate Eleonora Giorgi. But just moments later, with about two hours on the clock, the Italian duo managed to drop Lyra as the Brazilian started to show signs of fatigue. After another 10 kilometres of racing, Torres’ lead was still huge. Fiorini, meanwhile, had managed to break away from Giorgi.
With each lap, Torres’ victory became more and more certain. Giorgi’s hopes of a podium finish faded when she had to spend a four-
minute stint in the penalty zone after picking up her third red card. Fiorini pushed hard in the closing kilometres and made up a bit of ground on the long-time leader, but there was no catching Torres, who won in 3:24:37 – just 18 seconds shy of the fastest performance on record so far for the distance.
Fiorini held on to second place in a PB of 3:25:42 while Nathaly Leon made it two Ecuadorians on the podium, finishing third in 3:31:47. Italy’s Federica Curiazzi was fourth and Lyra placed fifth. Giorgi came through for seventh, giving Italy three scorers in the top seven, but Karla Jaramillo’s eighth place finish gave Ecuador just enough points to triumph ahead of Italy after some minutes of thrilling.
Italy had already celebrated its victory, but then came the cold shoulder: Brazilians De Sousa and Vicentainer were penalized four minutes after finishing ahead of Ecuadorian Ordonez. The South American thus finished eighth, and Ecuador won the team gold with 12 points, while Italy finished second with 13.
Much to the delight of the home fans, Brazil claimed bronze – their first ever team medal at these championships. Four years ago, when the 35km made its debut – and, indeed, only appearance – at the World Race Walking Team Championships, the individual and team titles also went to Ecuador as Glenda Morejon triumphed.Today in Brasilia, history repeated itself as Ecuador secured the individual and team crowns at a new distance, this time thanks to Paula Torres. She becomes just the third Ecuadorian athlete to win at the World Race Walking Team Championships, after three-time winner Jefferson Perez – who was holding the finish-line ribbon here in Brasilia – and 2022 35km winner Morejon.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
Official results: see below enclosed files
Photo album
Photo album from Fidal: https://www.fidal.it/gallery_one.php?gid=3427