Today in the war Memorial park circuit in Adelaide (AUS), the 2022 Australian and Oceania Walking Championships took place.

The competition had been included in the World Race Walking Tour calendar as a Bronze Label.

20km men

Declan Tingay won his first national and continental 20km walk title in 1:20:44, also achieving World Championship qualification standards to secure his place on the Oregon team.

Tingay, who placed 17th in Tokyo, was strategic in his approach, tucking in behind Kyle Swan for the first 15km.

He then forced his pace by beating his PB by over three minutes, finishing the race in 1:20:44

Second place to Kyle Swan (AUS) in 1:21.39

Third place  to Quentin Rew (NZL) in 1:22.23 while Rhydian Cowley (AUS) was fourth in 1:23:29.

“I didn’t really plan on walking that fast this morning,” said Tingay. “I had planned on qualifying for World Champs via the points system. To find a few extra gears today and knock the time out this early in the season is awesome."

Tingay's result has also secured the automatic selection spot for the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22.

20km women

Commonwealth champion Jemima Montag chopped 17 seconds off the long-standing continental record when winning at the Oceania & Australian 20km Race Walking Championships in Adelaide.

The 23-year-old, who was  contesting her first 20km after her sixth place at the Tokyo Olympics, finished in 1:27:27, breaking the ocean record of 1:27:44 set by Australian colleague Jane Saville in 2004 (Naumburg, May 2).

The title ensures Montag's automatic selection for the 2022 Oregon World Athletics Championships.

"It feels surreal right now, that national record is something I've been thinking about for a few years, but we've had the pandemic and the races canceled" said Jemima Montag. “Often at times it hasn’t been the right weather or right conditions, it wasn’t what I had in mind but I could feel it was on in the first 5km.”

Second place to Rebecca Henderson (AUS) in 1:31:44 spaced more than 4 minutes

Third place to Clara Smith (AUS) in 1:33:37

Risultati ufficiali - Official results