Olympics-Athletics-China's Yang secures women's race walk gold

Paris 2024 Olympics - Athletics - Women's 20km Race Walk - Trocadero, Paris, France - August 01, 2024. Gold medallist Yang Jiayu of China poses with silver medallist Maria Perez of Spain and bronze medallist Jemima Montag of Australia. /Amanda Perobelli

PARIS - China's Yang Jiayu claimed gold in the women's 20km race walk at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, pulling away from the field after the 5km mark and barely looking back en route to a victory that fulfilled a promise made to her late father.

Yang crossed the finish line in one hour 25 minutes and 54 seconds, Spain's Maria Perez secured the silver medal in 1:26.19 and Australia's Jemima Montag won bronze in 1:26.25.

"I never mentioned this before but I promised him (her father) I would win gold," Yang said. "Now I have finally done it, I am very proud of myself."

Yang is the fourth Chinese woman to win the event in the seven times it has been contested at the Olympics.

Brian Pintado of Ecuador won the men's race earlier on Thursday for the first athletics medal of the Paris Olympics.

With her victory, Yang added Olympic champion to a sparkling resume that already included world record holder and 2017 world champion.

The 28-year-old's bold race tactics to surge into an early lead paid off in emphatic fashion as she already had half a minute on the field by the 10km mark.

Perez, the 2023 world champion who finished fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, threatened to chip away at the difference around the 18km mark, but Yang responded in spectacular fashion and was unchallenged the rest of the way.

Yang's father died of illness while she was competing at the 2015 World University Games and when she won the 2017 worlds in London she dedicated the victory to her dad saying: "I wanted to make my father in heaven proud of me."

She went on to chop a whopping 49 seconds off the world record in March 2021, but struggled to a 12th-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics four months later.

"Tokyo was very tricky for me, so I worked very hard to come back and get the best results in Paris," she said.

Thursday's race was more about placing than times, particularly in the sizzling 28 Celsius heat.

The women doused their heads with water at every aid station and many wore scarves full of ice to keep their body temperature from rising dangerously.

Hundreds of fans, six deep in some places, lined the course that travelled in 1km loops along the Pont d'Iena and under the base of the Eiffel Tower. They banged loudly on the cardboard barriers each time the walkers passed by.

The athletics competition now shifts to Stade de France beginning on Friday.