2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 50 kilometres walk 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 50 kilometres walk The men's 50 kilometre walk at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics took place on August 21, 2009 on the streets of Berlin, Germany. The event started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate. Prior to the competition, previous winners did not appear to be medal prospects: the defending world champion Nathan Deakes missed the competition due to injury, and the reigning Olympic champion Alex Schwazer had failed to finish his sole 50 km race of the season. Frenchman Yohann Diniz, as the European Champion, was expected to perform well. The
2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk 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