María Pérez set a world-record time of 1:30:06 in the women’s half marathon race walk at Birmingham 2026.
The Spanish race walker won the title in 1 hour, 30 minutes and 6 seconds. The performance was recorded as a world record in the championship results and gave Spain gold in the women’s half marathon race walk.
Italy’s Alexandrina Mihai finished second in 1:31:04, while Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Olyanovska took bronze in 1:31:07. Pérez therefore won by 58 seconds over the runner-up.
Half marathon race walking covers 21.0975 kilometres. It is different from the marathon race walk, which covers 42.195 kilometres and was won in Birmingham by Italy’s Sofia Fiorini. Race walking requires competitors to maintain continuous ground contact and keep the leading leg straight from first contact until the body passes over it.