# 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk

The women's 20 kilometres race walk was held on a 2 kilometre course comprising lengths of The Mall between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch on 13 August.

## Summary

Defending champion, Olympic champion and defending champion Liu Hong was absent. Still the race started faster than the Olympics. A pack of 20 formed on the front. That pack was whittled down to 10 by the halfway point. After Kimberly García (Peru) fell off the pace, the group was reduced to just five by the 12-kilometre mark: two Chinese, Yang Jiayu and Lü Xiuzhi; María Guadalupe González (Mexico); Antonella Palmisano (Italy); and Érica de Sena (Brazil). de Sena fell off the pace when the other four accelerated the pace at 16K. Another lap later, Palmisano couldn't handle the pace which looked like the break for the three medalists. Yang didn't have the same awards, but she was leading the group with the Olympic silver and bronze medalists.
The three were racing to the finish. Less than 100 metres before the finish, the chief judge stepped out to show Lü the red card signifying she had accumulated three red cards from judges around the course and was disqualified. Lü didn't believe the message and tried to finish, but it was true. Yang raced González to the line, winning by barely a second. Palmisano came in 17 seconds later to get an unexpected bronze. The top five did negative splits (walking the end of the race faster than the beginning). de Sena improved her own South American continental record. Four others set national records.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Perf. | Athlete | Nat. | Date | Location |
| World | 1:24:38 | Liu Hong | CHN | 6 Jun 2015 | A Coruña, Spain |
| Championship | 1:25:41 | Olimpiada Ivanova | RUS | 7 Aug 2005 | Helsinki, Finland |
| World leading | 1:25:18 | Elena Lashmanova | RUS | 18 Feb 2017 | Sochi, Russia |
| African | 1:30:43 | Grace Wanjiru Njue | KEN | 26 Jun 2016 | Durban, South Africa |
| Asian | 1:24:38 | Liu Hong | CHN | 6 Jun 2015 | A Coruña, Spain |
| NACAC | 1:26:17 | Lupita González | MEX | 7 May 2016 | Rome, Italy |
| South American | 1:27:18 | Érica de Sena | BRA | 7 May 2016 | Rome, Italy |
| European | 1:24:58 | Elena Lashmanova | RUS | 25 Jun 2016 | Cheboksary, Russia |
| Oceanian | 1:27:44 | Jane Saville | AUS | 2 May 2004 | Naumburg, Germany |
The following records were set at the competition:
| Record | Perf. | Athlete | Nat. | Date |
| South American | 1:26:59 | Érica de Sena | BRA | 13 Aug 2017 |
| Brazilian | 1:26:59 | Érica de Sena | BRA | 13 Aug 2017 |
| Colombian | 1:28:10 | Sandra Arenas | COL | 13 Aug 2017 |
| Peruvian | 1:29:13 | Kimberly García | PER | 13 Aug 2017 |
| Hungarian | 1:30:05 | Viktória Madarász | HUN | 13 Aug 2017 |
| Hong Kong | 1:35:04 | Ching Siu Nga | HKG | 13 Aug 2017 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 1:36:00.

## Results

The final took place on 13 August at 12:21. The results were as follows:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Yang Jiayu | China (CHN) | 1:26:18 | PB |
| | María Guadalupe González | Mexico (MEX) | 1:26:19 | SB |
| | Antonella Palmisano | Italy (ITA) | 1:26:36 | PB |
| 4 | Érica de Sena | Brazil (BRA) | 1:26:59 | AR |
| 5 | Sandra Arenas | Colombia (COL) | 1:28:10 | NR |
| 6 | Ana Cabecinha | Portugal (POR) | 1:28:57 | SB |
| 7 | Kimberly García | Peru (PER) | 1:29:13 | NR |
| 8 | Wang Na | China (CHN) | 1:29:26 | |
| 9 | Laura García-Caro | Spain (ESP) | 1:29:29 | PB |
| 10 | María Pérez | Spain (ESP) | 1:29:37 | PB |
| 11 | Mirna Ortiz | Guatemala (GUA) | 1:30:01 | SB |
| 12 | Viktória Madarász | Hungary (HUN) | 1:30:05 | NR |
| 13 | Paola Pérez | Ecuador (ECU) | 1:30:09 | |
| 14 | Eleonora Giorgi | Italy (ITA) | 1:30:34 | SB |
| 15 | Valentina Trapletti | Italy (ITA) | 1:30:35 | PB |
| 16 | Brigita Virbalytė-Dimšienė | Lithuania (LTU) | 1:30:45 | SB |
| 17 | Sandra Galvis | Colombia (COL) | 1:31:13 | |
| 18 | Kumiko Okada | Japan (JPN) | 1:31:19 | |
| 19 | Živilė Vaiciukevičiūtė | Lithuania (LTU) | 1:31:23 | PB |
| 20 | Inna Loseva | Ukraine (UKR) | 1:31:24 | |
| 21 | Ainhoa Pinedo | Spain (ESP) | 1:31:28 | |
| 22 | Regan Lamble | Australia (AUS) | 1:31:30 | |
| 23 | Ángela Castro | Bolivia (BOL) | 1:31:34 | SB |
| 24 | Antigoni Drisbioti | Greece (GRE) | 1:32:03 | SB |
| 25 | Maria Michta-Coffey | United States (USA) | 1:32:14 | SB |
| 26 | Nastassia Yatsevich | Belarus (BLR) | 1:32:22 | SB |
| 27 | Barbara Oláh | Hungary (HUN) | 1:32:44 | PB |
| 28 | Maritza Guamán | Ecuador (ECU) | 1:33:06 | |
| 29 | Bethan Davies | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:33:10 | |
| 30 | Jeon Yeong-eun | South Korea (KOR) | 1:33:29 | SB |
| 31 | Andreea Arsine | Romania (ROM) | 1:33:46 | PB |
| 32 | Valentyna Nayavka | Ukraine (UKR) | 1:33:59 | PB |
| 33 | Miranda Melville | United States (USA) | 1:34:47 | |
| 34 | Ana Rodean | Romania (ROM) | 1:34:50 | SB |
| 35 | Ching Siu Nga | Hong Kong (HKG) | 1:35:04 | NR |
| 36 | Mária Czaková | Slovakia (SVK) | 1:35:11 | |
| 37 | Grace Wanjiru | Kenya (KEN) | 1:35:22 | |
| 38 | Beki Smith | Australia (AUS) | 1:35:31 | |
| 39 | Chahinez Nasri | Tunisia (TUN) | 1:35:45 | |
| 40 | Gemma Bridge | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:36:04 | |
| 41 | Johana Ordóñez | Ecuador (ECU) | 1:36:27 | |
| 42 | Khushbir Kaur | India (IND) | 1:36:41 | |
| 43 | Claire Woods | Australia (AUS) | 1:37:05 | SB |
| 44 | Yehualeye Beletew | Ethiopia (ETH) | 1:37:55 | |
| 45 | Monika Vaiciukevičiūtė | Lithuania (LTU) | 1:38:08 | |
| 46 | Milangela Rosales | Venezuela (VEN) | 1:38:08 | |
| 47 | Diana Aydosova | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 1:38:16 | SB |
| 48 | Lee Da-seul | South Korea (KOR) | 1:38:54 | |
| 49 | Laura Polli | Switzerland (SUI) | 1:39:05 | SB |
| 50 | Polina Repina | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 1:39:56 | |
| 51 | Rita Récsei | Hungary (HUN) | 1:40:56 | |
| 52 | Regina Rykova | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 1:41:59 | |
| | Anežka Drahotová | Czech Republic (CZE) | DNF | |
| | Despina Zapounidou | Greece (GRE) | DNF | |
| | Klavdiya Afanasyeva | Authorised Neutral Athletes (ANA) | DQ | 230.6(a) |
| | Nadiya Borovska | Ukraine (UKR) | DQ | 230.6(a) |
| | Yeseida Carrillo | Colombia (COL) | DQ | 230.6(a) |
| | Lü Xiuzhi | China (CHN) | DQ | 230.6(a) |
| | Agnese Pastare | Latvia (LAT) | DQ | 230.6(a) |
| | María Guadalupe Sánchez | Mexico (MEX) | DQ | 230.6(a) |
| | Askale Tiksa | Ethiopia (ETH) | DNS | |