After a bronze and silver medal at the past two IAAF World Championships, Anisya Kirdyapkina finally climbed to the top of the podium thanks to a triumph at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, producing a stirring effort over the last third of the race to emerge a convincing winner on Saturday (3).
Look no further than the form guide in the women’s 20km at the 26th IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang on Sunday (4).
All roads led to Moscow for Ireland’s World 50km race walk champion Robert Heffernan.
In a dramatic and slightly chaotic finale to the Women's 20km Race Walk, Elena Lashmanova led home a Russian one-two to add the World title to the Olympic title she won in London last year.
No less than 10 gold medals were decided on day four of the World University Games with the hosts Russia taking half of them in Kazan on Wednesday (10).
Russia executed a clean swept every first place bar one at the 10th edition of the European Cup Race Walking, staged in the Slovak town of Dudince on Sunday (19), and the event was also the latest round of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge.