BUDAPEST, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) — Spain took the second race strolling gold on the World Athletics Championships as Maria Perez crossed the end line first within the ladies’s 20km race right here on Sunday.
As her compatriot Alvaro Martin achieved within the males’s 20km occasion on Saturday, Perez broke from the main group with 5km to go, successful her first world title in a single hour 26 minutes and 51 seconds.
“I even cannot put into the words how important it was for me to win this first global gold, especially at the 20km. Victory at this distance was my main goal for Budapest.” stated Perez, who was fourth within the occasion on the Tokyo Olympic Games, however was disqualified eventually yr’s World Championships.
Jemima Montag from Australia completed second in 1:27:16 as Italian Antonella Palmisano took the bronze medal 10 seconds later.
Chinese Yang Jiayu, who holds the world file of 1:23:49, seized a great place within the main group after the beginning, however pale little by little within the remaining laps.
The 2017 world champion was positioned twelfth in 1:31:54, greater than 5 seconds away from her season finest.
“I didn’t perform well today,” stated Yang. “I ran out of energy in the last 5km and I was strolling rather than race walking in the final stage.”
Yang’s teammate Ma Zhenxia completed seventh in 1:28:30 whereas 36-year-old Rio Olympic champion Liu Hong took the seventeenth place in 1:30:43.
27-year-old Perez revealed that she was too nervous to sleep final evening and needed to ask for assist from the physician. She wanted some drugs to lastly take a relaxation, however she held her nerves on Sunday morning to place every thing beneath management.
“I put all my power into this race. I knew I had a very good gap before the last kilometer, but the last lap was extremely fast. I had to give my maximum,” she stated.
But Perez indicated that she may withdraw from the 35km race as she suffered hamstring cramp within the final minutes this morning.
“I need some consultation and medical examination from our doctors to see whether it will be possible to compete at 35km. 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,” stated Perez.