As the countdown to the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 continues, we shine a spotlight on some of the podium sweeps that have lit up past editions of the global showpiece.
This five-part series concludes with a look back at China’s dominance in the women’s 20km race walk in Doha in 2019.
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Heading into the World Championships in 2019, heat was top of mind. While the Khalifa International Stadium in the host city of Doha in Qatar had air conditioning, the out of stadium endurance athletes faced hot and humid conditions with little relief. To alleviate the severe conditions, long distance road events began late in the evening. Just before midnight on 29 September, the women’s 20km race walk competitors took to Doha’s Corniche.
Most eyes were on two women on the starting line who were 13 years apart in age. Many knew about China’s Liu Hong, who already had a storied career. Liu had been a figure on the race walking scene since 2006, when she won the world U20 title.
In 2018 she took a year off to have a child and returned to become the first woman to ever break four hours in the 50km race walk, adding that world record to the world 20km race walk record she set in 2015. She is now a four-time world 20km race walk champion as well as a three-time Olympic medallist.
Other eyes were focused on Ecuador’s Glenda Morejon, a then 19-year-old who had posted a stellar debut at the 20km distance in La Coruña a few months prior. Outpacing China’s 2017 world champion Yang Jiayu, Liu and Qieyang Shijie in La Coruña, Morejon won in 1:25:29 – a world U20 best. But in Doha it was Liu, Qieyang and Yang Liujing who outlasted Morejon and the rest of the field to capture the first-ever women’s race walk podium sweep at the World Championships.
Yang, Qieyang and Liu worked together as a pack, but went out conservatively for the first 5km as the temperature at the start line was 32°C with 75% humidity. Liu and Qieyang gradually accelerated over the next 10km and were among those to share the lead. Liu surged with a penultimate kilometre of 4:17 and an even quicker closing kilometre of 4:09, a decisive move that would lead her to victory.
After finishing first in 1:32:53, Liu turned around to see her teammate Qieyang finish 17 seconds behind in 1:33:10 for silver, and then Yang clock 1:33:17 for bronze.
Liu Hong on her way to leading China to a sweep of the women’s 20km race walk medals in Doha (© AFP / Getty Images)
Because Chinese race walkers tend to train in high-altitude plateau camps, and the country – like Ecuador – has a tradition of success in the event, the Chinese trio frequently train together and have the opportunity to practice tactics and pacing.
Qieyang explained that teamwork was essential to the team’s overall success.
“The weather conditions were really a big challenge for us,” she noted. “Thanks to our teamwork, we had a better strategy, and we just battled as a team.”
The podium sweep carried extra significance as it happened just before the National Day of the People’s Republic of China, a holiday that celebrates the establishment of the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China, initially celebrated on 1 October 1949.
Liu saw the sweep as a present to the nation. “The three medals, this achievement is a good gift that we give to our motherland,” she said.
In addition to the gift to China, Liu was able to bring her medal as a gift to her child, symbolically paving the way for the new generation.
Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics