Rebecca Henderson sets race walk marathon world record in Japan
The Victorian broke the previous mark by 19 seconds on her marathon debut, while fellow Australian Elizabeth McMillen won the half-marathon.
Australian Rebecca Henderson has broken the women’s race walk marathon world record, completing her debut over the distance in three hours, 14 minutes and 52 seconds at the All Japan Race Walking meeting in Takahata.
The 25-year-old from Dandenong raced through rain to lower Italian Sofia Fiorini’s mark by 19 seconds. Fiorini had set the previous record at the European Championships in Birmingham in August.
Henderson spent much of the race alone and finished 14 minutes clear of the next woman, passing many male competitors in the mixed field. The double Olympian had placed ninth over 35km at the previous world championships in Tokyo.
World Athletics adopted the marathon and half-marathon as official race walk distances in January, replacing the 20km and 35km events. Henderson’s performance was the first senior world record by a non-disabled Australian in a championship discipline since Nathan Deakes broke the 50km record in December 2006.
Fellow Australian Elizabeth McMillen won the women’s half-marathon in 1:31:31, setting a national record and improving her personal best by almost seven minutes. Japan’s Masatora Kawano also established the inaugural men’s marathon world record at the meeting with a time of 2:55:14.
