Heel, toe, history: Japanese man racewalks 42km marathon in under 2:56
TOKYO, Oct 25 — Japanese athlete Masatora Kawano set a men’s marathon race walk world record at the All Japa...
In a remarkable display of endurance, Japanese athlete Masatora Kawano shattered the men's marathon race walk world record at the All Japan Race Walking meeting in Yamagata Prefecture. Kawano, a two-time world championships medalist, raced a grueling 42.195 kilometers in a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes and 14 seconds, according to Kyodo News.
World Athletics recently approved the marathon race walk, a contest over the traditional marathon distance, as the replacement for the 35-kilometer race walk at major championships in December 2024. The new event officially debuted in January and required a performance standard of 2:56:30 for the inaugural men's world record, which Kawano became the first to achieve.
The Yamagata meet served as a qualifier for the World Athletics Championships in Beijing, set to take place in September. Australia's Rebecca Henderson also made history by winning the women's race with a time of 3:14:52. Kawano, 28 years old, is no stranger to world records, having previously held the world record in the 35-kilometer event. Prior to the marathon race walk, he finished sixth in the men's 50-kilometer race at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
