Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi set a new world record in the men’s 20-kilometer race walk Sunday as he strode to victory at the national championships in Kobe.
The two-time world champion clocked 1 hour, 16 minutes and 10 seconds around the course on Kobe’s Rokko Island to slash 26 seconds off the previous record set by countryman Yusuke Suzuki in 2015.
Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi (R) is pictured on his way to setting a new men’s 20-kilometer race walking world record at the national championship in Kobe on Feb. 16, 2025. (Kyodo)
Nanako Fujii won the women’s race in a new national record of 1:26:33.
Both Yamanishi, 29, and Fujii, 25, met the selection requirements to represent Japan at the world athletics championships in Tokyo in September.
Yamanishi’s performance puts Japanese race walking back in the headlines just two days after Tokyo Olympic men’s 20 km silver medalist Koki Ikeda received a four-year ban for using or attempting to use a banned drug. Ikeda may appeal the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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