37-year-old Yohann Diniz of France broke the 20km race walk world record today in Arles at the French Championships, clocking 1:17:02 to improve the record by 14 seconds. That is just shy of 6:12/mile pace.

 

Diniz is no stranger to world records, as he owns the 50km race walk record from the European Championships in Zurich, Switzerland last year. His time of 3:32:33 (6:50/mile) was nearly two minutes faster than the old record. 

 

Diniz’s performance today was highlighted by a lightning fast final 5k, a portion that the Frenchman covered in just over 19 minutes. “It felt like I was flying,” Diniz told IAAF.org.