Miranda Melville, a 2016 Olympian in the 20K race walk and third at last summer's Olympic Trials at that distance, stepped up to the longer distance and bettered the American Record in the women's 35K race walk with a 3:00:18 at the USATF Championships on Sunday in Santee, California. The existing AR is 3:00:43 by Katie Burnett, set in 2017 at London. Moving quickly into the lead on the 1.25K loop course, Melville had a 20-second gap by 5K and went through 10K in 50:42, more than a minute up on her nearest challenger. She built on that lead through 15K in 1:15:56 and crossed 20K in 1:40:59 to lead by 2:42. Going past 25K in 2:06:25 and 30K in 2:32:59, Melville ended up winning by 1:37 over Stephanie Casey. The men's victory went to Nick Christie, who won by more than 10 minutes in 2:48:48. Christie bettered the AR in December with a 2:38:16 in Ireland, and was never seriously challenged today as he defended the U.S. title he won last November.