It would have been a fabulous world record. When Kimberly García of Peru crossed the finish line in the 20-kilometer walking competition at the Pan American Games, the clock stopped at 1:12:26 hours. She would have beaten China’s Yang Jiayu’s record by more than eleven minutes.
As it turned out, there was a reason García himself fell well short of the men’s world record of 1:16:36 set by Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki at O’Higgins Park in Santiago, Chile. According to the athletes, the route was around three kilometers too short.
“We noticed it from the first kilometer,” said 30-year-old García. “The time didn’t match the distance.” The organizers later announced that there was a measuring problem. The men’s race was then delayed by an hour.
Michael Reinsch, Budapest Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2 Achim Dreis, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5
