Rebecca Henderson, 25, has set a women’s world record for the marathon race walk, and she did it on her debut over the distance.
She walked 3:14:52 in Takahata, Japan, on Sunday 25 October, according to World Athletics.
The race was part of the All Japan Race Walking meeting, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze event. The governing body lists the time with an asterisk, which means it is subject to ratification.
Nineteen Seconds Faster
The mark she beat had been set in August 2026. Italy’s Sofia Fiorini walked 3:15:11 at the European Championships in Birmingham to set it, according to World Athletics. Henderson took 19 seconds off Fiorini’s time, AAP reported.
How She Walked It
Nobody went with her. Henderson race walked solo from start to finish, passing many men in the field, World Athletics reported.
The splits show how the gap grew through the race. She reached 20.195km in 1:33:39 with a lead of more than six minutes over Japan’s Ayane Yanai. By 25km, the lead was 8:04.
The women’s race was not close. She won it by 14 minutes, according to World Athletics. Yanai was second in 3:29:10, a Japanese record, and Masumi Fuchise was third in 3:38:42.
Then there were the conditions on the day. The races were held in pouring rain on a loop with a rise and fall of about a metre each lap. In the marathon, walkers went up and down it 42 times, World Athletics reported.
A First Since 2006
For Australia, the record is a rare one. Henderson is the first Australian track and field athlete in a generation to set a senior world record in a championship event, AAP reported.
She is also the first non-disabled Australian to do so in 20 years. The last was Nathan Deakes, who set the 50km record in Geelong in December 2006.
Henderson, who comes from Dandenong, arrived in Takahata as a double Olympian, according to AAP. She won bronze over the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and she was ninth in the 35km at the 2025 world championships in Tokyo.
A New Event
The half marathon and marathon became official race walk distances on 1 January 2026, according to World Athletics. They replaced the 20km and 35km events, AAP reported. The marathon distance is 42.195km. Both distances were on the programme in Takahata.
The men’s race in Takahata produced a world record too. An inaugural men’s record needed a time under the 2:56:30 standard. Japan’s Masatora Kawano walked 2:55:14 to set it, according to World Athletics.
There was also a second Australian win at the meeting. Elizabeth McMillen, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, won the women’s half marathon in 1:31:31, World Athletics reported. That is the fifth-fastest time for the event. Her previous best was 1:38:29. AAP reported the time as an Australian record.
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Waiting on Ratification
Henderson’s 3:14:52 is listed by World Athletics with an asterisk, as a world record subject to ratification. Kawano’s 2:55:14 carries the same asterisk.
Sources: World Athletics, “Henderson and Kawano set world marathon race walk records in Takahata”, 25 October 2026 (https://worldathletics.org/news/report/all-japan-race-walking-takahata-henderson-kawano-world-marathon-race-walk-record); The Guardian (AAP), “Australia’s Rebecca Henderson claims historic race walk world record”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/oct/26/australian-rebecca-henderson-breaks-athletics-world-record-race-walk-marathon-japan)
Photo: Mizuki Kusakawa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Takayasu, in the town of Takahata in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, photographed in October 2021.
