(REUTERS) – The men’s 20 kilometres race walk world record was broken for the second time in a week last Sunday when Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki set a new mark at the Asian Race Walking Championships.Exactly a week after Frenchman Yohann Diniz set a mark of 1:17:02 in Arles, the 27-year-old Suzuki shaved almost half a minute off it, to finish in a time of 1:16:36 in his hometown of Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture.

Suzuki, a renowned fast starter, blasted away from the outset, covering the first six kilometres in 22:53 and going through the halfway mark in a national 10-kilometre record of 38:05.
His blistering pace dropped off slightly with around four kilometres to go, but he finished strongly, securing his third Asian title, after victories in 2010 and 2013.