China Wins Gold and Solver in Women's 50km Race at IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019

Doha, September 29 (QNA) - The womens 50km race walk at IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 saw China's Liang Rui taking gold in and Li Maocuo the silver. The 25 years old Liang Rui, former world record-holder winner at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships Taicang 2018, added another gold medal to her collection by winning the title in 4 hours, 23 minutes and 26 seconds. Teammate Li Maocuo followed three minutes later to take the silver medal in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 40 seconds. Italys European record-holder Eleonora Giorgi took the bronze medal in 4 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds. The eventual medalists were always near the front of the pack, passing through 5km together in 27:46 before reaching 10km in 55:18, joined by defending champion Ines Henriques. The lead quartet remained together for another few laps before Giorgi began to lose contact with the others. Shortly before the half-way point, Liang started to make a move and opened a gap on Li. Henriques, meanwhile, was unable to match the pace of the leader and dropped back to fourth place behind Giorgi. Over the course of the remaining 20 kilometers, the positions of the top three didnt change, just the gap between them. By 40 kilometers, Liang had extended her lead to 99 seconds while Li had a comfortable three-minute margin over Giorgi. Henriques, meanwhile, continued to struggle and eventually withdrew with Ukraines Olena Sobchuk taking up fourth place. Liang, who has a best of 4:04:36, forged on ahead and eventually crossed the line in 4:23:26 to become the first Chinese athlete, man or woman, to win a world title in the 50km race walk. (QNA)