China’s Yang Jiayu broke the women’s world record for the 20 kilometre walk by covering the distance in 1hr 23min 49sec during the Chinese Championships in Huangshan on Saturday.

The 2017 world champion at the distance sliced 49s off the old record (1hr 24min 38sec) set by fellow Chinese Liu Hong in 2015.

Yan Jiayu won the national title by beating Liu Hong, the 2016 Olympic gold medallist and 2019 world champion, who finished 11 seconds inside the old record.

Wang Kaihua won the men’s 20k race in 1hr 16min 54sec, the third fastest time in history and just 18 seconds short of Japanese walker Yusuke Suzuki’s world record, set in 2015.