Maria Pérez, Sofia Fiorini Set World Records in Women’s Race Walk at European Championships

Spain’s María Pérez and Italy’s Sofia Fiorini made race-walking history on Saturday after setting world records in the women’s half-marathon and marathon events respectively at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England.

Pérez struck first, winning the women’s half-marathon race walk in 1:30:06 to establish the inaugural world record for the newly recognised distance.

The four-time world champion finished ahead of Italy’s Alexandrina Mihai, who took silver, while Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Olyanovska claimed bronze. Pérez’s time was comfortably inside the 1:30:30 performance standard set by World Athletics for the first official world record in the event.

About two hours later, 21-year-old Fiorini produced another historic performance, winning the women’s marathon race walk in 3:15:11.

The Italian smashed the inaugural world-record standard of 3:17:00 and improved her previous best by more than 10 minutes. She pulled away from her rivals with less than 10 kilometres remaining and finished more than four minutes ahead of Poland’s Katarzyna Zdzieblo, who took silver. Spain’s Raquel Gonzalez won bronze.

The two events became official women’s race-walking distances from January 1, 2026, making Pérez and Fiorini the first official world-record holders over the half-marathon and marathon distances.

For Pérez, the victory also marked her first European title since she won the 20km race walk in 2018. She entered the competition as the reigning world record holder over 35km and a four-time world champion.

Fiorini, meanwhile, arrived in Birmingham after taking silver in the marathon race walk at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Brasília in April, where she clocked 3:25:42. Her Birmingham performance represented a dramatic improvement.

The remarkable double has given Spain and Italy a memorable day at the European Championships, with two athletes establishing the first official benchmarks in the newly recognised women’s race-walking events.