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MOSCOW, August 13 (R-Sport) - London Olympic champion Elena Lashmanova of Russia added a world athletics championships title to her 20 km race walking cabinet on Tuesday, narrowly defeating fellow Russian Anisya Kirdyapkina in front of a small crowd at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium.
Russians have now won the 20 km race walk gold at every world championships dating back to 2001. Lashmanova, who won in an unofficial time of 1:27:09 hours, supplants three-time defending champion Olga Kaniskina, who pulled out of Moscow last week with an injury.
Kirdyapkina, who won bronze at the Daegu worlds two years ago, took silver.
China's Liu Hong, the 2011 silver medalist, dropped down the podium to bronze.
The medals are Russia's fourth and fifth of the nine-day championships.
