María Pérez clinched a Spanish double in the 20km road races with victory in the women's event ©Getty Images

María Pérez completed a Spanish 20 kilometres race walk double with an impressive victory in the women's event at the World Athletics Championships here.

A lead group of seven emerged after the first quarter of the race on the 1km course along Andrássy Avenue which started and finished at Heroes' Square in the Hungarian capital, with Pérez firmly involved along with Olympic champion Antonella Palmisano of Italy and defending champion Kimberly García of Peru.

The 2017 world champion Yang Jiayu of China was also involved, along with her compatriot Ma Zhenxia, Australia's Jemima Montag and Alegna González of Mexico.

They were joined by Ecuador's Glenda Morejón in the second half of the race, for which temperatures rose to a warm 24 degrees Celsius.

Pérez applied the pressure in the final 5km, and none of her rivals were able to keep pace with her.

She had won eight of her nine events this year and was the 20km world leader with a 1 hour 25min 30sec effort in Córdoba in March.

Pérez added to her successes with the biggest victory of her career in 1:26:51, and it was a particularly sweet moment for Pérez having been disqualified in the 20km race at last year's World Championships in Eugene.

In contrast to the thunderstorms of yesterday's men's 20km race walk, temperatures rose to around 24 degrees Celsius in the sun for the women's event ©Getty Images
In contrast to the thunderstorms of yesterday's men's 20km race walk, temperatures rose to around 24 degrees Celsius in the sun for the women's event ©Getty Images

"I even cannot put into the words how important it was for me to win this first global gold, especially at the 20km," she said.

"Victory at this distance was my main goal for Budapest.

"Yesterday in the evening, I felt so nervous I could not fall asleep and was forced to call to our doctor for help and medicines to help me take the final rest before the event.

"Thank God, it helped and I felt more or less fresh in the morning.

"The 20km was always difficult for me as I had technical issues and was often disqualified.

"I could not say that my technique was bad but all these new technologies are so sensitive they can fix all the smallest mistakes."

Australia's Jemima Montag, right, and Italy's Antonella Palmisano, left, took silver and bronze respectively in the women's 20km race walk ©Getty Images
Australia's Jemima Montag, right, and Italy's Antonella Palmisano, left, took silver and bronze respectively in the women's 20km race walk ©Getty Images

Her triumph sealed a Spanish double in the shorter distance, after Álvaro Martín triumphed in a thunderstorm-delayed men's race yesterday.

Montag was closest to Pérez, and finished second with an area record 1:27:16.

Palmisano recovered from a stumble on a turn earlier in the race to cross the finish line in third, 10 seconds further back than Montag.

García made a late move to try and gatecrash the medal positions, but fell six seconds short of Palmisano.

Road races at the World Athletics Championships are set to continue with the men's and women's 35km race walks on Thursday (August 24).