China's Liu Hong breaks 50km walk world record

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Huangshan (China), March 9: Liu Hong of China broke the world record in the 50km race walk on Saturday ( March 9), clocking 3:59:15 at the Chinese Race Walk Grand Prix to become the first woman to break the four-hour barrier in the event.

Liu, the 2016 Olympic champion over 20km, clipped more the five minutes from the previous record of 4:04:36 set by China's Liang Rui in Taicang last year.

Liu also holds the world record in the 20km event, clocking 1:24:38 in La Coruna, Spain in 2015.

The day clearly belonged to the 31-year-old, who was making her debut over the distance in just her third race since returning to competition after taking a two-year break for maternity leave.

After covering the opening two-kilometre lap in 10:02, Liu and Li set off on a brisk clip, together knocking off subsequent 2km circuits in the 9:36-9:45 range through 16 kilometres.

At that point, Li, who was seventh at the World Race Walking Team Championships last year, made the first move of the race to build a slight gap on Liu over the next two laps. But Liu covered it by the 20th kilometre and bided her time before taking the lead for good in kilometre 40. She closed with a 9:06 final lap, the fastest of the race.

Prior to moving up in distance, Liu raced to world titles in 2011 and 2015 before taking her Olympic title in Rio. She holds the world record in the event, a 1:24:38 performance set in La Coruna, Spain in 2015.

(Source: IAAF Media)