Ukrainian race walker Lyudmyla Olyanovska set a new world record in the women’s one-mile race walk at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Eisenstadt, Austria, breaking a 36-year-old mark.
According to the Athletics Federation of Ukraine, the 33-year-old athlete from Kyiv won the event with a time of 6:10.09 on July 1. This performance lowered the previous world record by over six seconds. The former benchmark of 6:16.72 was established in 1990 in Kaunas by Lithuanian race walker Sada Eidikytė, who competed for the Soviet Union at the time.
This outdoor milestone follows another major achievement earlier in the year when Olyanovska set an indoor world record in the women’s 5,000-meter race walk at the Ukrainian Athletics Championships in Kyiv. Competing there, she finished the distance in 19 minutes and 53 seconds, making her the first athlete to complete the indoor 5,000-meter race walk in under 20 minutes and beating the 2014 record previously held by Italian race walker Eleonora Giorgi by eight seconds.
Olyanovska’s accomplishments contribute to a broader wave of international success for Ukrainian athletics. In March, Oleh Doroshchuk secured the men’s high jump gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń by successfully clearing 2.30 meters on his opening attempt, cementing his victory after entering the competition as one of the leading favorites.
