| Event: | Women's 20 kilometres walk |
| Competition: | 2017 World Championships |
| Venue: | Olympic Stadium |
| Dates: | 13 August (final) |
| Competitors: | 60 |
| Nations: | 34 |
| Win Value: | 1:26:18 |
| Gold: | Yang Jiayu |
| Goldnoc: | CHN |
| Silver: | María Guadalupe González |
| Silvernoc: | MEX |
| Bronze: | Antonella Palmisano |
| Bronzenoc: | ITA |
| Prev: | 2015 |
| Next: | 2019 |
The women's 20 kilometres race walk was held on a 2 kilometre course comprising lengths of The Mall between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch on 13 August.[1] [2]
Defending champion, Olympic champion and defending champion Liu Hong was absent. Still the race started faster than the Olympics. A pack of 20 formed on the front. That pack was whittled down to 10 by the halfway point. After Kimberly García (Peru) fell off the pace, the group was reduced to just five by the 12-kilometre mark: two Chinese, Yang Jiayu and Lü Xiuzhi; María Guadalupe González (Mexico); Antonella Palmisano (Italy); and Erica de Sena (Brazil).[3] de Sena fell off the pace when the other four accelerated the pace at 16K. Another lap later, Palmisano couldn't handle the pace which looked like the break for the three medalists. Yang didn't have the same awards, but she was leading the group with the Olympic silver and bronze medalists.
The three were racing to the finish. Less than 100 metres before the finish, the chief judge stepped out to show Lü the red card signifying she had accumulated three red cards from judges around the course and was disqualified. Lü didn't believe the message and tried to finish, but it was true. Yang raced González to the line, winning by barely a second. Palmisano came in 17 seconds later to get an unexpected bronze.[4] The top five did negative splits (walking the end of the race faster than the beginning). de Sena improved her own South American continental record. Four others set national records.
Before the competition records were as follows:[5]
| Record | Athlete | Date | Location | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | 1:24:38 | Liu Hong | 6 Jun 2015 | A Coruña, Spain | ||
| Championship | 1:25:41 | Olimpiada Ivanova |  Russian Federation | 7 Aug 2005 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| World leading | 1:25:18 | Elena Lashmanova | Russian Federation | Sochi, Russia | ||
| African | 1:30:43 | Grace Wanjiru Njue |  Kenya | 26 Jun 2016 | Durban, South Africa | |
| Asian | 1:24:38 | Liu Hong |  China | 6 Jun 2015 | A Coruña, Spain | |
| NACAC | 1:26:17 | Maria Guadalupe González |  Mexico | 7 May 2016 | Rome, Italy | |
| South American | 1:27:18 | Erica de Sena |  Brazil | 7 May 2016 | Rome, Italy | |
| European | 1:24:58 | Elena Lashmanova | Russian Federation | 25 Jun 2016 | Cheboksary, Russia | |
| Oceanian | 1:27:44 | Jane Saville |  Australia | 2 May 2004 | Naumburg, Germany |
The following records were set at the competition:[6]
| Record | Athlete | Date | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South American | 1:26:59 | Érica de Sena | Brazil | 13 Aug 2017 | |
| Brazilian | |||||
| Colombian | 1:28:10 | Sandra Arenas |  Colombia | 13 Aug 2017 | |
| Peruvian | 1:29:13 | Kimberly García |  Peru | 13 Aug 2017 | |
| Hungarian | 1:30:05 | Viktória Madarász |  Hungary | 13 Aug 2017 | |
| Hong Kong | 1:35:04 | Ching Siu-nga |  Hong Kong | 13 Aug 2017 |
The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 1:36:00.[7]
The final took place on 13 August at 12:21. The results were as follows:[8]
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:26:18 | |||||
| 1:26:19 | |||||
| 1:26:36 | |||||
| 1:26:59 | |||||
| 1:28:10 | |||||
| 1:28:57 | |||||
| 1:29:13 | |||||
| 1:29:26 | |||||
| 1:29:29 | |||||
| 1:29:37 | |||||
| 1:30:01 | |||||
| 1:30:05 | |||||
| 1:30:09 | |||||
| 1:30:34 | |||||
| 1:30:35 | |||||
| 1:30:45 | |||||
| 1:31:13 | |||||
| 1:31:19 | |||||
| 1:31:23 | |||||
| 1:31:24 | |||||
| 1:31:28 | |||||
| 1:31:30 | |||||
| 1:31:34 | |||||
| 1:32:03 | |||||
| 1:32:14 | |||||
| 1:32:22 | |||||
| 1:32:44 | |||||
| 1:33:06 | |||||
| 1:33:10 | |||||
| 1:33:29 | |||||
| 1:33:46 | |||||
| 1:33:59 | |||||
| 1:34:47 | |||||
| 1:34:50 | |||||
| 1:35:04 | |||||
| 1:35:11 | |||||
| 1:35:22 | |||||
| 1:35:31 | |||||
| 1:35:45 | |||||
| 1:36:04 | |||||
| 1:36:27 | |||||
| 1:36:41 | |||||
| 1:37:05 | |||||
| 1:37:55 | |||||
| 1:38:08 | |||||
| 1:38:08 | |||||
| 1:38:16 | |||||
| 1:38:54 | |||||
| 1:39:05 | |||||
| 1:39:56 | |||||
| 1:40:56 | |||||
| 1:41:59 | |||||