Hong Liu of China has won the gold medal in the women’s 20-kilometer race walk event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Liu was in the top 10 for the majority of the race, but only passed into first place at the 18-kilometer mark. She eventually won by just two seconds, beating out Mexico’s Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez, who finished with a silver medal.
Olympics 2016: Hong Liu of China wins gold medal in women’s 20km walk
China took both the gold and the bronze in the women’s 20-kilometer race walk on Friday at the Rio Olympics.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Liu’s compatriot, Xiuzhi Lu, led for much of the early portion of the race but ultimately finished seven seconds off first and took the bronze medal in the event.
Things were very tight when the athletes crossed the 18-kilometer mark, as Liu, Gonzalez and Lu all put up times of 1:20:24 going into the final two kilometers.
Like all race walking events at the Olympics, each division is presented in a single final with no semifinals or anything else. There is a single race with all competitors, with women’s 20-kilometer, men’s 20-kilometer and men’s 50-kilometer races rounding out the events. The men’s marathon final will be the final track and field event on the final day of the Olympics on Sunday.
After 12 kilometers, Maria Michta-Coffey of the United States was in 28th place, 1:38 behind the leader. Miranda Melville, also of the United States, was in 41st and place and nearly three minutes behind the leader. Michta-Coffey managed to improve herself to 23rd and Melville to 36th by the time the 18th kilometer came around, which was encouraging though obviously the US was well out of contention at that point.
Michta-Coffey finished in 22nd, the highest finish for the U.S. in the race.
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