On a record-laden Saturday evening in Birmingham, María Pérez wrote her name into a fresh page of the history books. The Spanish race walker won European gold in the half marathon walk, stopping the clock at 1:30:06 to set the first official world record for the new distance.
A front-runner from the first kilometre
Pérez broke away early alongside Italy’s Antonella Palmisano after a quick first kilometre. The pair stayed together until the midway point, when Pérez made her move. She pushed clear after 10km and never looked back.
Her lead grew to 23 seconds by the 14th kilometre and stretched past a minute by the time she reached 18km. Italy’s Alexandrina Mihai took silver in 1:31:04 and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Olyanovska claimed bronze in 1:31:07.
Twenty-four seconds inside the new standard
The half marathon walk became an official discipline only this January. World Athletics set a standard of 1:30:30 for the women’s record, and Pérez finished 24 seconds inside it. She passed the 20km mark in 1:25:30, matching her own Spanish record, before sweeping to the line.
Pérez, a four-time world champion, already holds the 35km race walk world record from 2023. This European gold is her first since winning the 20km title in Berlin eight years earlier.
“I wasn't expecting to break the world record today; I didn't even know what the world record was,” she told reporters. “The pace was very fast so I just tried to keep up with everyone else, but at some point I just knew I was capable of going for the gold.”
The victory adds a second distance to her collection of world records. In a sport of small margins, she continues to build a career of clear, decisive breaks.
