The Olympic 20km race walk champion Stano crossed the line on his 35km debut in 2 hours 29min 09sec to take the gold medal in Dudince in Slovakia, easily smashing the qualification standard for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, which stands at 2:33.00.

Mexico's Jose Luis Morales took the silver medal 15 seconds behind the winner in 2:29:34, holding off China's He Xianghong, who was the bronze medallist, 11 seconds behind.

Aurelien Quinion of France and José Leonardo Montaña of Colombia completed the top five.

Mexicans Julio César Salazar and Ever Palma were sixth and seventh, followed by China's Zhaxi Yangben, Andres Chocho of Ecuador and Eric Barrondo of Guatemala who completed the top 10.

The top 15 walkers all made the standard for the Championships, making them eligible for selection.

José Leyver Ojeda of Mexico, Eider Arévalo of Colombia, Isaac Palma of Mexico, Italian Teodorico Caporaso and Daniel Chamosa from Spain were the others to make the standard.

Qieyang, also making her 35km debut, claimed women's gold with a time of 2:43:06, 13 seconds in front of the silver medallist Kimberly García of Peru.

Li Maocuo, Qieyang's compatriot, was more than two minutes off the pace for the bronze in 2:45:46.

Viviane Lyra from Brazil and the United States' Robyn Stevens completed the top five, in front of Hungary's Viktoria Madarasz and Sandra Moreno from Colombia.

Thirteen race walkers made the qualifying standard of 2:55:00 for the World Championships, with Alejandra Ortega of Mexico, Colombian Arabelly Orjuela and Antia Chamosa of Spain completing the top 10.

Also making the standard for Oregon were Spain's Mar Juarez, Ecuador's Magaly Bonilla and Guatemala's Mirna Ortiz.