Kimberly Garcia is a female racewalker from Peru. She won gold medals in the women’s 20km walk and 35km walk at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, earning her country’s first-ever world titles in the process. Kimberly Garcia competed in the women’s 20km walk event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China, and at the Rio 2016 Olympics. In 2022, she won the same event at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and added the second title for the 35km walk.
Gabriela Kimberly Garcia Leоn was born on October 19, 1993, in Huancayo, Peru. She started in athletics from an early age and developed her abilities. She finished 7th at the Bishan 2010 Youth Olympics at the 5000 m walk and 10th at the 2012 World Junior Championships.
Kimberly Garcia won her first major honor in 2013 at the Bolivarian Games in Trujillo, Peru, where she finished third at the 20km walk. On the next year, she won another bronze medal from the Ibero-American Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the 10,000m walk and the gold at the South American Race Walking Championships.
In 2017, she achieved the highest position of a Peruvian athlete in the World Athletics Championships, finishing seventh in the 20 km at the Championships in London. In 2019, Kimberly Garcia won the silver medal in the event at the Pan American Games staged in Lima. In December of that year, she was named Athlete of the Year by the Peruvian Athletics Sport Federation. She qualified but failed to finish in the 20 km walk at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
In 2022, Kimberly Garcia won the titles at 20 km and 35 km walk at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. She also became the first woman to earn two racewalking titles at one global championships. In November, she was shortlisted for the World Athletics’ World Female Athlete of the Year award.
Kimberly Garcia photos
