María Pérez claimed European gold in Birmingham on Saturday and established the first official world record for the women's half marathon race walk, finishing in 1:30:06.
Dominant race from the front
Pérez led from the outset, opening the contest with a kilometre covered in 4:36. She initially matched strides with Italy's Antonella Palmisano before the pair had opened a clear advantage by 8km. Around 10km Pérez accelerated away and progressively extended her lead, passing 14km with a gap of 23 seconds to Palmisano and stretching that advantage further to more than a minute by 18km.
She completed 20km in 1:25:30, which equalled her own Spanish record for that distance, and maintained her pace to reach the finish in 1:30:06. Italy's Alexandrina Mihai took silver in 1:31:04 and Ukraine's Lyudmyla Olyanovska won bronze in 1:31:07.
Official recognition and the significance of the mark
The half marathon race walk became an official championship distance from 1 January 2026, and World Athletics set a performance standard of 1:30:30 as the threshold for the inaugural women's world record. Pérez's time surpassed that mark by 24 seconds, making her the first athlete to hold the recognised world record for the distance. The result remains subject to the usual ratification process.
Pérez already holds the world record for the 35km race walk and has now added this half marathon title to a European championships resume that includes the 20km crown she won in Berlin in 2018. Her versatility across the race-walking distances underlines her status among the discipline's leading athletes.
- Event: Women's half marathon race walk, European Championships, Birmingham
- Winner: María Pérez — 1:30:06 (new official world record, pending ratification)
- Silver: Alexandrina Mihai — 1:31:04
- Bronze: Lyudmyla Olyanovska — 1:31:07
| Position | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | María Pérez (ESP) | 1:30:06 |
| 2 | Alexandrina Mihai (ITA) | 1:31:04 |
| 3 | Lyudmyla Olyanovska (UKR) | 1:31:07 |
Context and wider consequences
The introduction of the half marathon race walk as an official championship distance this year reflects World Athletics' continuing effort to broaden the competitive programme for walkers. By establishing a performance standard for an inaugural world record, the governing body set a clear benchmark that athletes could aim for from the moment the distance was recognised.
Pérez's time not only meets that benchmark but also consolidates her position at the top of the sport across multiple distances. Equalling her Spanish 20km record within the race demonstrates the overlapping demands of endurance and speed that elite race walkers must balance, and it suggests a high level of current fitness as the global calendar moves towards further championships.
Her victory also changes the statistical landscape for the event: future championships and world rankings will reference a ratified mark of 1:30:06 if and when World Athletics completes its verification. That process typically examines factors such as course measurement, doping controls and race officiating before formal approval.
For rivals like Palmisano, Mihai and Olyanovska, Pérez's performance establishes a concrete target to close the gap in subsequent meetings. National federations and coaches will study splits and pacing from Birmingham as they prepare athletes for the new championship distance.
As with any newly sanctioned event, the first officially recognised record carries symbolic weight: it will be cited in future histories of the discipline and will shape how the half marathon race walk is marketed and contested at major championships.
For now, the headline is straightforward: María Pérez reached the finish line in Birmingham first and, in the process, set the time that will be recorded as the inaugural official world standard for the women's half marathon race walk, pending ratification by World Athletics.
