Maria Perez added the women’s 20km race walk world title to the 35km world record she set in May, pulling away from her rivals in the final five kilometres to take Spain’s second gold medal at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 on Sunday.
Perez crossed the line in 1:26:51 to become the first European winner of the event since Ireland’s Olive Loughnane in 2009 and she followed in the footsteps of her compatriot Alvaro Martin who had won the men’s event on Saturday.
By coincidence, Martin and Perez also won both the European 20km race walk titles at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships, albeit on the same day on that occasion five years ago, and the pair are entered in the 35km race walk on Thursday in a bid to make it a double triumph for themselves and Spain, although Perez was later to cast some doubt in post-race interviews about whether she will be on the start line for the longer event.
The race on Sunday was decided in dramatic fashion by Perez's brutal change of pace in the 16th kilometre.
After being part of a leading group of seven that went through 5km in 21:44, 10km in 43:43 and 15km in 1:06:04, having predominantly left it to others to make the pace during the first three-quarters of the race, Perez changed tempo and threw in a 4:06 lap to give her a four-second advantage with four one-kilometre laps of the Hungarian capital’s city centre remaining.
It was a lead she never relinquished and the gap between herself and her nearest rival, soon to be Australia’s Jennifer Montag, grew lap-by-lap.
Felicidades Maria! 🇪🇸
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 20, 2023
Maria Perez storms to gold in the women’s 20km race walk at the #WorldAthleticsChamps in 1:26:51!
Double gold for Spain in the 20km race walk in Budapest! 🔒 pic.twitter.com/EmQ2m4L4h8
A 4:09 17th lap extended her lead to eight seconds, followed by a decisive 4:05 next kilometre to extend her lead to 14 seconds and make it increasingly likely she would land the global crown after the frustrations of being disqualified over 20km at the two major events of 2022, the World and European Athletics Championships.
A further 4:06 lap increased her lead over the eventual silver medallist Montag by another four seconds while her penultimate circuit in 4:06 – with Perez still looking fresh while the others were starting to wilt in the intense early morning sunshine – meant she had a 27-second advantage at the bell.
Knowing that gold was hers, Perez started celebrating in the final 50 metres and strolled across the line before falling to the ground, her body wracked as she sobbed of joy.
"I even cannot put into the words how important it was for me to win this first global gold. Victory at this distance was my main goal for Budapest. Yesterday, in the evening, I felt so nervous I could not fall asleep and was forced to call to our doctor for help and medicines to help me rest before the event. "It helped and I felt more or less fresh this morning." recalled Perez.
"The 20km has always been difficult for me as I had technical issues and was often disqualified. I would like to say big thanks to Jose Marin [1983 World Athletics Championships 50km race walk silver medallist], because he has been working with me as a consultant over the last year and has helped me to improve my technique a lot.
"I put all my power into this race. I knew I had a very good gap before the last kilometre, but the last lap was still extremely fast. I had to give my maximum. I got a hamstring cramp, but I did not want to take too much care of my actual condition and continued to work 100 per cent. Now I need some consultation and a medical examination from our doctors to see whether it will be possible to compete at 35km," she added.
"Maybe it will be better to start recovering as next year is the Olympic one and I would like to stay healthy to prepare for Paris at the highest level."
Behind Perez and Montag, Italy’s reigning Olympic champion Antonella Palmisano – one of the faces of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships – took another world championships bronze medal after also finishing third in 2017.
The Italian was greeted at the finish line by Perez and looked equally delighted with her place on the podium after a difficult and injury ridden 18 months which saw her not compete at all last year.
Palmisano crossed the line in 1:27:26, her best time for more than two years since she won the 2021 European Race Walking Team Championships.
"This was a very difficult and fast race. I came here to show a good performance and I was ready for a fast pace but it was just not in me today. I did not have it in my legs. I had some injuries, I had to fight but the most important thing was just to finish this race and to finish with a medal. So this is a very important result for me," reflected the Italian.
World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 full results and timetable can be found here.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics