Ukrainian athlete Olyanovska sets new world record in race walking — previous one was 36 years ago

Ukrainian athlete Lyudmila Olyanovska set a world record in the one-mile race walk at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open tournament in Eisenstadt, Austria.

This is reported by the Athletics Federation of Ukraine and Suspilne.

Olyanovskaya covered the distance in 6 minutes and 10.09 seconds. The previous world record for this distance was set by Lithuanian athlete Sadi Ejdikite, who won in 1990 as part of the USSR team in Kaunas with a time of 6 minutes and 16.72 seconds.

Other results in the womenʼs one mile:

• Lyudmila Olyanovska (Ukraine) — 6:10.09 minutes.
• Sada Eydikite (USSR) — 6:16.72.
• Rachel Seaman (Canada) — 6:17.29.
• Debbie Lawrence (USA) — 6:18.03.
• Michelle Rogle (USA) — 6:18.07.

In February 2026, the Ukrainian track and field athlete also set a world record at a distance of 5 000 meters — she covered it in 19.53 minutes.

• Lyudmila Olyanovska was born in 1993 in the Khmelnytskyi region. She is one of the most titled race walkers in the history of Ukraine: bronze medalist of the 2015 World Championship; silver (2014) and bronze (2024) medalist of the European Championships in the 20-kilometer road walking; European champion among youth in the 20-kilometer road walking in 2014; in 2025 she won the international race walking tournament Dudinska 50 in Slovakia.

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