OREGON22: Gathimba finishes fourth as Garcia breaks Japan's dominance in 20km walk

Three-time African Walking race champion Samuel Gathimba headed to the World Athletics Championships eager to continue trailblazing for Kenyans in the event and that he did. 

Third behind Toshikazu Yamanishi and Koki Ikeda at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat in March Gathimba was hopeful of a similar performance in Oregon on the opening day. 

The Kenya Prisons officer looked on course for an even more meaningful bronze as he led Perseus Karlstrom into the final circuit. The 34-year-old had to settle for fourth place, however, as the big Swede produced a 3:41 last lap.

Yamanishi produced a storming final kilometre lap to overcome his Japanese teammate Ikeda and become only the third man in World Championships history to successfully defend the 20km race walk title.

Crossing the line seven seconds clear in 1:19:07, Yamanishi retained the title he claimed in Doha three years ago, becoming the third multiple winner of the 20km world title after Italy’s Maurizio Damilano (1987 and 1991) and Ecuador’s Jefferson Perez (2003, 2005 and 2007).

For Ikeda, the runner-up in 1:19:14, it was a second global silver medal in 12 months, the 24-year-old having finished second to Italy’s Massimo Stano in the Olympic 20km race walk in Sapporo a year ago. 

Karlstrom matched the bronze he achieved in Doha, clocking 1:19:18, with the gallant Gathimba fourth in 1:19:25, a huge advance of Kenya’s previous highest placing in the event, 26th.

Ecuador’s Pan American Games champion Brian Pintado was fifth in 1:19:34 and Brazil’s 2017 world bronze medallist Caio Bonfim sixth in 1:19.51.

In the the women’s race, Kenya's Emily Ngii managed a 30th place finish in 1:37.43 in a race that saw Kimberly Garcia end a Japanese winning streak thag has stayed for over a decade. 

What made the 28-year-old’s performance all the more notable is that it was the first medal for Peru in World Championships history and a golden one at that.

Garcia saved her fastest kilometre for the final circuit, cruising around in 4:13 to cross the line in 1:26:58, smashing her own national record by one minute and 40 seconds. 

Additional reporting by World Athletics.