Race walker Lucas Martin heading to Brazil for 2026 Race Walk World Championships

Whanganui race walker Lucas Martin, 21, will represent New Zealand at the 2026 World Athletics Race Walking World Team Championships in Brazil.

Whanganui-raised race walker Lucas Martin is representing New Zealand for the World Athletics Race Walking World Team Championships in Brazil this year.

The championships will be held in the capital, Brasilia, in April.

Athletics New Zealand is sending Whanganui Athletics Club’s Martin over with Jonah Cropp, of Sumner Running Club, and Toby O’Rorke of Egmont Athletics to compete in the Senior Men’s Half Marathon Race Walk.

It will be Martin’s first time representing New Zealand internationally.

The 21-year-old is in his fourth year of studying civil engineering at the University of Canterbury, but is back in Whanganui for an internship.

Martin attended Whangaehu School, St George’s School and Whanganui Collegiate School.

His introduction to race walking was unique.

Around age 12, Martin had signed up for the Round the Bridges fun run and walk in Whanganui and was set to run the course.

On the day, because of the bad weather, Martin decided he did not want to wait for the run and instead jumped in with the walkers.

After following the lead walker for about 5km, Martin realised he “was not that bad”.

In Year 9, he began training in cross-country and race walking.

“In terms of my development, I probably specialised earlier,” he said.

In his first year competing, he placed second in the open men’s race and took 50 seconds off his 3km personal best times on three separate occasions.

Martin praised the strong athletics programme available at Whanganui Collegiate and the help of Alec McNabb.

He is now coached by Masterton’s Mark Harris.

Martin’s race walk half-marathon personal best is 1h 42m 31s, which he did in Wellington in 2025.

He placed 327th out of more than 1500 runners at that event.

The race he is most proud of to date was in Dunedin last year, where he hit a 10km personal best of 45m 52.45s.

“I’d gone through a dry, hard patch for my first two years of university – I hadn’t hit a personal best in any event in two years,” Martin said.

“My training was better than ever, but I just couldn’t put it together on race days, so I was very proud to come away from that with a personal best.”

In the 2020 5km New Zealand Road Walk Championship, Martin broke four separate New Zealand age-grade records, with his time of 23m 46s.

Martin splits up his training week by doing an easy walk followed by strength training on Mondays and Thursdays, a workout on Tuesdays and Saturdays and a long walk on Sundays and Wednesdays.

He said it can be difficult to manage while studying, but the university is understanding.

Martin, 21, is completing an internship in Whanganui for his civil engineering degree. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Martin enjoys the technical challenge of race walking the most, referencing the difficulty in making sure one foot is on the ground at all times, with the leading leg straightened.

“In the later stage of a 20km, your knees might feel like they are not completely rocking, but what is actually happening and what you are feeling is completely different,” he said.

“If you lose feeling, you have just got to hope that what you’re doing is what you’ve trained.”

Martin returns home to Whanganui for semester breaks, helping Athletics Whanganui with officiating.

He said the sport of race walking has a small community where everyone knows everyone.

“We’ve got good depth at the moment; there are definitely a lot more young walkers nowadays,” he said.

“The times we walked at New Zealand Champs was the first time in 25 years that more than two walkers had gone under 1h 40m for the 20km in one race.”

Martin is the oldest of the three senior men’s half-marathon team, with Cropp aged 20 and O’Rorke, 19.

Martin will focus on adapting to the heat over the next 10 weeks – Brasilia in April averages 25-30C.

“I’m feeling pretty good; the heat is something that I’ve never raced well in, so I’m going to focus on heat adaptation,” he said.

“It should be really good, I like a challenge because it’s something to knuckle down on and work on.”

Martin hopes to promote the sport and follow in the footsteps of New Zealand race walkers Alana Barber and Quentin Rew on the world stage.

“My goal is totally to qualify for the Olympic Games – if I work hard enough, then surely it is on the cards,” he said.

“I want to get my degree, and then I can focus solely on it.”

Martin needs to self-fund his trip to Brazil, which is expected to cost around $6500.

To support Martin, donations can be made through his Givealittle page https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/lucasmartin.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.