2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk

The Women's 20 km Walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 16, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate.

Undefeated since May 2007, the Olympic and World champion Olga Kaniskina was a clear favourite. Russian champion and second fastest of the year Vera Sokolova was predicted as a possible medallist, as were Sabine Krantz and Kjersti Platzer who had both won on the racewalking circuit prior to the competition. Amongst the other fastest athletes before the championships were Russians Anisya Kirdyapkina and Larisa Emelyanova, while Olympic medallist Elisa Rigaudo and Universiade medallist Masumi Fuchise were suggested as other contenders for the podium.

Competing on the course along the Unter den Linden boulevard, German Sabine Krantz led early on, but dropped out halfway into the race, and Norwegian Platzer was disqualified with five kilometres to go. Kaniskina emerged as the clear winner, becoming the first woman to win the racewalking gold in consecutive championships. Forty-nine seconds behind her was the surprise silver medallist Olive Loughnane, who won Ireland's first championship medal since 2003, and her first ever medal at a major championships. Liu Hong took the bronze, while Russian teenager Kirdyapkina took fourth place.

Kaniskina's victory completed a Russian men's and women's 20 km double with Valeriy Borchin, and she received a winner's prize of $60,000 for her achievement. Her win highlighted her success in an event in which she had won an Olympic gold, two World Championships titles, and a gold in the World Cup in just three years.

On January 15, 2015, Kaniskina's results were disqualified for doping violations. Most of the athletes coached by Viktor Chegin have received similar bans. On July 6, 2016, Loughnane will receive the gold medal in a full ceremony at the 2016 European Athletics Championships.

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
DSQ	Olga Kaniskina	Russia	1:28:09
	Olive Loughnane	Ireland	1:28:58	SB
	Liu Hong	China	1:29:10	SB
	Anisya Kirdyapkina	Russia	1:30:09
	Vera Santos	Portugal	1:30:35
	Beatriz Pascual	Spain	1:30:40
	Masumi Fuchise	Japan	1:31:15
	Kristina Saltanovič	Lithuania	1:31:23	SB
	Elisa Rigaudo	Italy	1:31:52
10	Susana Feitor	Portugal	1:32:04
11	Inês Henriques	Portugal	1:32:51
12	Kumi Otoshi	Japan	1:33:05
13	Larisa Emelyanova	Russia	1:34:31
14	Vera Sokolova	Russia	1:34:35
15	Sniazhana Yurchanka	Belarus	1:34:57
16	Ana Maria Groza	Romania	1:35:19
17	Valentina Trapletti	Italy	1:35:33	SB
18	Yang Mingxia	China	1:35:42
19	Zuzana Schindlerová	Czech Republic	1:35:47
20	Tania Regina Spindler	Brazil	1:35:51
21	Evaggelía Xinoú	Greece	1:35:56
22	Jess Rothwell	Australia	1:36:01
23	Claudia Stef	Romania	1:36:09
24	Brigita Virbalytė	Lithuania	1:36:28
25	Marie Polli	Switzerland	1:36:44
26	Zuzana Malíková	Slovakia	1:37:47
27	Claire Tallent	Australia	1:38:12
28	Agnieszka Dygacz	Poland	1:38:36
29	Alessandra Picagevicz	Brazil	1:38:50
30	Geovana Irusta	Bolivia	1:39:16
31	Chaima Trabelsi	Tunisia	1:39:50
32	Svetlana Tolstaya	Kazakhstan	1:40:41	SB
33	Johana Ordóñez	Ecuador	1:42:27
34	Anamaria Greceanu	Romania	1:43:35
35	Rachel Lavallée	Canada	1:45:45
36	Olha Yakovenko	Ukraine	1:45:55
37	Cristina López	El Salvador	1:47:33	SB
	Cheryl Webb	Australia
	Johanna Jackson	Great Britain
	María Hatzipanayiotídou	Greece
	Yang Yawei	China
	Monica Svensson	Sweden
	Mária Gáliková	Slovakia
	Mayumi Kawasaki	Japan
	Kjersti Plätzer	Norway
	María Vasco	Spain
	Teresa Vaill	United States
	Sabine Krantz	Germany