Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez got their second victories at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, adding the 35km race walk titles on Thursday morning to the 20km gold medals they won at the weekend.
Arriving at the finish line in the Hungarian capital’s Heroes’ Square, Martin stopped the clock in in a national record of 2:24:30 to move up to eighth on the all-time list while world record-holder Perez followed him home little more than 14 minutes later in 2:38.40, a time only she and one other walker has beaten.
The long-time leader of the men’s race was the France’s Aurelien Quinon who broke away from a large leading pack of 14 men in the 14th kilometre with a 4:05 kilometre-split just before an hour had elapsed.
Quinon, fourth at the 2023 European Race Walking Team Championships in May, continued out in front until a five-man group led by Martin but walking in single file caught up with him just after 29 kilometres.
Unfortunately for Quinion he had also been racking up yellow cards for 'lifting' and was soon to be disqualified.
Martin raced side-by-side with Ecuador’s Brian Pintado and Japan’s Masatora Kawano, the eventual silver and bronze medallists, for the next four kilometres.
However, Martin surged again shortly after the bell for the start of the final 2km lap, eventually winning from Pintdo by four seconds.
The gap between himself and the South American with the finish line into sight, after checking where his nearest rival was with about 100 metres to go, allowed him to toss his white cap into the crowd, smooth down his hair and grab a Spanish flag before taking his second gold of the championships and add another first prize cheque of $70,000 to his bank account.
"I was fourth in the Tokyo Olympic Games and it was very tough to get so close to an Olympic medal, so it's wonderful now to be a double world champion. In the last kilometre," said the champion.
"I had to push hard because I was so tired and Pintado was so close. It was a tougher race today than Saturday [in the 20km] and this medal was more difficult to win but, in the end, it is an amazing day for Spanish sport because we made history with four gold medals," commented Martin.
The next European home was Germany’s Christopher Linke in fifth place, who set a national of 2:25.35.
Perez’s victory was somewhat more comfortable, despite having expressed doubts earlier in the week about starting due to hamstring spasms and a microtear in the wake of her 20km win on Sunday.
A five-woman group went through 10km in 46:44 with Poland’s Katarzyna Zdziebło, who took two world championships silver medals in the race walks last year in Eugene but would later be disqualified in Budapest, constantly pushing the pace at the front.
Shortly before 20km, which was passed by Perez in 1:32:41, the Spanish made her move and from that point she was never headed, consistently covering kilometres five to ten seconds faster than her nearest rival, Peru’s 2022 double world champion Kimberley Garcia Leon
At 25km, reached in 154:42, Perez had a 24-second advantage over Garcia Leon with Greece’s 2022 European 20km champion Antigoni Ntrismpioti a further 25 seconds further back.
𝑯𝑬́𝑹𝑶𝑬 𝒀 𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑶𝑰́𝑵𝑨
— atletismoRFEA (@atletismoRFEA) August 24, 2023
🥇 35 km marcha🥇@Alvaroatletismo @garciaperezmari
SOIS MUY GRANDES
Hacéis felices a toda 🇪🇸
Enhorabuena y a vuestros coachs:
José Antonio Carrillo y @jacintogarzon@wabudapest23#EspañaAtletismo #PasiónPorCompetir pic.twitter.com/P7CAiwX3Z7
Perez passed 30km in 2:16.01 and the gap between her and the two other women in the medal positions was 1:45 and 3:01 respectively and from that point it was clear that all Perez had to do was focus on not incurring the displeasure of the judges and another gold would be hers.
So it proved with Perez crossing the line 2:12 in front of Garcia Leon and Ntrismpioti taking the bronze in 2:43:40.
"I felt confident about my technique today and wanted to maintain a normal rhythm throughout the race and not to damage my hamstring any more, so I really did the last four or five kilometres easy. This is a huge achievement, not only for me but for the whole Spanish team. I want to enjoy this moment. I could hear the people around the course screaming my name, cheering for me. That helped me too, especially towards the end," said Perez.
Much to the delight of all concerned, but especially the photographers, almost the first person to congratulate Perez was Martin, who had stayed close to the finish line after his own celebrations to congratulate his teammate.
The two gold medals to Europe's tally to 10 in Budapest, equalling the continent's haul at the last World Athletics Championships, with Spain leading the way with four gold medals thanks to Martin and Perez's double triumphs.
World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 full results and timetable can be found here.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics