Doha (AFP)

China has signed a hat-trick on the women's 20 km walk of the Doha World Athletics Championships on Sunday night, with Liu Hong winning a third world title.

The world record holder (1:24:38 in 2015) won the race in 1:32:53 ahead of her compatriots Qieyang Shenjie (17 seconds) and Yang Liujing (24 seconds).

Liu Hong thus completes her incredible record at the age of 32 (Olympic title in 2016, world titles in 2011 and 2015), while she observed a pause between 2017 and 2018 to become a mother.

The start of the race, given at 23:59 local, had been shifted by 29 minutes by the organization due to weather conditions (about 31 degrees, 71% humidity).

Only one competitor gave up, after the major failures observed on the longer races played on Friday (women's marathon) and Saturday (50 km walk) at the same place on the Corniche, the Doha waterfront.

© 2019 AFP