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| María Pérez claimed European gold in sensational style, clocking 1:30:06* to set a world record in the women’s half marathon race walk at the European Championships in Birmingham on Saturday (15). Pérez was at the front from the outset, covering the opening kilometre in 4:36 and initially racing alongside Italy’s Antonella Palmisano. The pair had broken clear by 8km, but Pérez made her move at about 10km and soon started to build a significant advantage. She led Palmisano by 23 seconds at 14km and by 18km her margin over her nearest pursuer had grown to more than a minute. She passed through 20km in 1:25:30, equalling her own Spanish record for that distance, then went on to reach the finish in 1:30:06, with Italy’s Alexandrina Mihai taking silver in 1:31:04 and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Olyanovska earning bronze in 1:31:07. Pérez, who also holds the world record for the 35km race walk, has now added a second European title to the 20km crown she won in Berlin in 2018. The half marathon race walk became an official championship distance from 1 January 2026, with World Athletics setting 1:30:30 as the performance standard required for the inaugural women’s world record. Pérez therefore becomes the first official world record-holder for the distance, having surpassed that mark by 24 seconds.*Subject to the usual ratification procedure |