2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk

The Women's 20 km Walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 16, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate.

Undefeated since May 2007, the Olympic and World champion Olga Kaniskina was a clear favourite. Russian champion and second fastest of the year Vera Sokolova was predicted as a possible medallist, as were Sabine Krantz and Kjersti Platzer who had both won on the racewalking circuit prior to the competition. Amongst the other fastest athletes before the championships were Russians Anisya Kirdyapkina and Larisa Emelyanova, while Olympic medallist Elisa Rigaudo and Universiade medallist Masumi Fuchise were suggested as other contenders for the podium.[1]

Competing on the course along the Unter den Linden boulevard, German Sabine Krantz led early on, but dropped out halfway into the race, and Norwegian Platzer was disqualified with five kilometres to go. Kaniskina emerged as the clear winner, becoming the first woman to win the racewalking gold in consecutive championships. Forty-nine seconds behind her was the surprise silver medallist Olive Loughnane, who won Ireland's first championship medal since 2003, and her first ever medal at a major championships. Liu Hong took the bronze, while Russian teenager Kirdyapkina took fourth place.[2]

Kaniskina's victory completed a Russian men's and women's 20 km double with Valeriy Borchin, and she received a winner's prize of $60,000 for her achievement. Her win highlighted her success in an event in which she had won an Olympic gold, two World Championships titles, and a gold in the World Cup in just three years.[3]

On January 15, 2015, Kaniskina's results were disqualified for doping violations.[4] Most of the athletes coached by Viktor Chegin have received similar bans. On July 6, 2016, Loughnane will receive the gold medal in a full ceremony at the 2016 European Athletics Championships.[5]

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Olga Kaniskina  Russia (RUS)	Olive Loughnane  Ireland (IRL)	Liu Hong  China (CHN)

Records

World record	Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS)	1:25:41	Helsinki, Finland	7 August 2005
Championship record	Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS)	1:25:41	Helsinki, Finland	7 August 2005
World leading	Olga Kaniskina (RUS)	1:24:56	Adler, Russia	28 February 2009
African record	Susan Vermeulen (RSA)	1:36:18	Mézidon-Canon, France	2 May 1999
Asian record	Wang Yan (CHN)	1:26:22	Guangzhou, China	19 November 2001
North American record	Graciela Mendoza (MEX)	1:30:03	Mézidon-Canon, France	2 May 1999
South American record	Miriam Ramón (ECU)	1:31:25	Lima, Peru	7 May 2005
European record	Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS)	1:25:41	Helsinki, Finland	7 August 2005
Oceanian record	Jane Saville (AUS)	1:27:44	Naumburg, Germany	2 May 2004

Qualification standards

A time	B time
1:33:30	1:38:00

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
August 16, 2009	12:00	Final

Results

Olga Kaniskina defended her 20 km walk World Championships title

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
	DSQ	Russia (RUS)	1:28:09
	Olive Loughnane	Ireland (IRL)	1:28:58	SB
	Liu Hong	China (CHN)	1:29:10	SB
4	Anisya Kirdyapkina	Russia (RUS)	1:30:09
5	Vera Santos	Portugal (POR)	1:30:35
6	Beatriz Pascual	Spain (ESP)	1:30:40
7	Masumi Fuchise	Japan (JPN)	1:31:15
8	Kristina Saltanovič	Lithuania (LTU)	1:31:23	SB
9	Elisa Rigaudo	Italy (ITA)	1:31:52
10	Susana Feitor	Portugal (POR)	1:32:04
11	Inês Henriques	Portugal (POR)	1:32:51
12	Kumi Otoshi	Japan (JPN)	1:33:05
13	Larisa Emelyanova	Russia (RUS)	1:34:31
14	Vera Sokolova	Russia (RUS)	1:34:35
15	Sniazhana Yurchanka	Belarus (BLR)	1:34:57
16	Ana Maria Groza	Romania (ROM)	1:35:19
17	Valentina Trapletti	Italy (ITA)	1:35:33	SB
18	Yang Mingxia	China (CHN)	1:35:42
19	Zuzana Schindlerová	Czech Republic (CZE)	1:35:47
20	Tania Regina Spindler	Brazil (BRA)	1:35:51
21	Evaggelía Xinoú	Greece (GRE)	1:35:56
22	Jess Rothwell	Australia (AUS)	1:36:01
23	Claudia Stef	Romania (ROM)	1:36:09
24	Brigita Virbalytė	Lithuania (LTU)	1:36:28
25	Marie Polli	Switzerland (SUI)	1:36:44
26	Zuzana Malíková	Slovakia (SVK)	1:37:47
27	Claire Tallent	Australia (AUS)	1:38:12
28	Agnieszka Dygacz	Poland (POL)	1:38:36
29	Alessandra Picagevicz	Brazil (BRA)	1:38:50
30	Geovana Irusta	Bolivia (BOL)	1:39:16
31	Chaima Trabelsi	Tunisia (TUN)	1:39:50
32	Svetlana Tolstaya	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	1:40:41	SB
33	Johana Ordóñez	Ecuador (ECU)	1:42:27
34	Anamaria Greceanu	Romania (ROM)	1:43:35
35	Rachel Lavallée	Canada (CAN)	1:45:45
36	Olha Yakovenko	Ukraine (UKR)	1:45:55
37	Cristina López	El Salvador (ESA)	1:47:33	SB
	Cheryl Webb	Australia (AUS)		DQ
	Johanna Jackson	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)		DQ
	María Hatzipanayiotídou	Greece (GRE)		DQ
	Yang Yawei	China (CHN)		DQ
	Monica Svensson	Sweden (SWE)		DQ
	Mária Gáliková	Slovakia (SVK)		DQ
	Mayumi Kawasaki	Japan (JPN)		DQ
	Kjersti Plätzer	Norway (NOR)		DQ
	María Vasco	Spain (ESP)		DNF
	Teresa Vaill	United States (USA)		DNF
	Sabine Krantz	Germany (GER)		DNF

DNF = did not finish | DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place

References

General

• Women's 20 km walk results (Archived 2009-09-08). IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-16.

Specific

1. Landells, Steve (2009-08-09). Women's 20 Kilometres Race Walk - PREVIEW Archived 2009-08-14 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-17.
2. Landells, Steve (2009-08-16). Event Report - Women's 20Km Race Walk - Final Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-17.
3. Powell, David (2009-08-16). Kaniskina follows in Borchin’s footsteps Archived 2009-08-19 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-17.
4. "Информация о дисквалификации: легкая атлетика" (in Russian). Russian Anti-Doping Agency. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-01-20. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
5. http://www.athleticsweekly.com/featured/cheated-athletes-to-receive-world-gold-medal-ceremony-at-european-championships-44496/