Toshikazu Yamanishi on his way to a world 20km race walk record in Kobe (© JAAF / Ikumi Kodama)
Two head-to-head battles stand out at the fourth Korzeniowski Warsaw Race Walking Cup – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting – on Sunday (4).
Namely, Caio Bonfim versus Toshikazu Yamanishi and the ongoing battle between Kimberly Garcia and Paula Torres.
In the latter’s case, it could be a hat-trick for Torres over the Peruvian double 2022 world champion having secured victories at Dudince in March at 35km and Rio Maior earlier this month.
In Dudince, Torres set an Ecuadorian record of 2:44:26, and in Portugal, Torres broke the tape in 1:29:37: 15 seconds ahead of Garcia.
This truly is the 24-year-old’s time.
In fact, with Olympic champion Brian Pintado working his way back to fitness following surgery on a troublesome groin, this might be the year a female from the country of four Olympic medals, all race walking, adds another World Championships medal to her country's glittering pile.
Torres, ninth in the Paris Olympics last year, hasn’t put a foot wrong in 2025, while Garcia appears to be slowly recovering the shape that made her double world champion three years ago.
Garcia won here in Warsaw in 2023, missed the race last year, but clearly likes a visit to the Polish capital. If nothing else, it offers a chance to get closer to Torres, albeit in a distant kind of way – if their last two races are anything to go by.
But ready to throw a spanner in those works is Viviane Lyra. The Brazilian, who has a 1:27:13 PB from last year, race walked a notable 1:28:30 to win the South American Championships in Argentina just last week (25).
That is a considerably better mark than Torres’ PB of 1:28:48 from the Paris Olympics and a 1:22 improvement on Garcia's time from Rio Maior.
A leap to the top of a World Race Walking Tour Gold podium is within reach for the champion steeplechaser turned race walker. The big ‘if’ is whether Lyra recovers from that 20km win just a week before this race.
Katarzyna Zdzieblo hopes to impress on home soil. The Polish double 2022 world silver medallist was up with the leaders in 2024 for only a short time, but she did offer a glimpse of former glory with third place in Dudince at 35km in March.
Yes, it was a minute behind Garcia finishing second, but better than all other performances since those heady days in Oregon at the World Championships.
The supporting cast of Valeria Ortuno (Mexico) and Ayse Tekdal (Turkey) will augment a field of 17.
The event will be Yamanishi’s first race since he broke the 20km world record in February. That magnificent 1:16:10 in Kobe was a fantastic return to form by the bespectacled 29-year-old.
The Japanese athlete was more than a minute ahead of second place, but third on the same day was Bonfim in 1:17:37. That mark was a Brazilian record and in contrast to some who race sparingly, Bonfim has already competed four times at top level in 2025.
His record thus far is two first places, including Rio Maior earlier this month, a third and a sixth – the latter a super-fast Tour Gold race in Taicang where he stopped the clock at 1:18:20.
Bonfim’s Olympic silver from Paris, secured in 1:19:09 when finishing behind Pintado to add to his other major championship medals, suggests Yamanishi needs to be in that same February record-breaking form.
It will need a disqualification, which is unlikely, or an injury for anyone else to break into the top two. But if there is to be a surprise, Kazuki Takahashi is the race walker to spring one.
He was only 13th as his compatriot Yamanishi broke the world record, but a 1:18:23 finish to go with a 2:25:45 35km at Nomi in March is still good enough for fourth in the world rankings at 35km, and 24th at 20km.
Completing a trio of top Japanese athletes planning to show Warsaw what they’re about is Yuta Koga. He boasts a 1:17:47 PB from last year, and 1:18:26 from Kobe in February.
Joining them in the men’s race are Nathaniel Seiler (Germany) and Isaac Palma (Mexico), and for home fans Maher Ben Hlima, who set a Polish record of 2:27:51 for 35km in Dudince.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
