By Associated Press - Saturday, March 9, 2019

HUANGSHAN, China (AP) - Liu Hong of China has set a world record in the women’s 50-kilometer race walk, becoming the first woman to finish the event in under 4 hours.

Liu, the 20K Olympic champion who was competing in her first 50K race, clocked 3 hours, 59 minutes, 15 seconds at the Chinese Race Walk Grand Prix on Saturday. That shaved more than five minutes off the previous mark of 4:04:36, held by China’s Liang Rui.

Li Maocuo also beat the previous record, finishing second in 4:03:51.



For Liu, it was only her third race since returning from a two-year break for maternity leave.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright © 2026 The Washington Times, LLC.

Story Topics

Please read our comment policy before commenting.