PARIS (Reuters) - Frenchman Yohann Diniz broke the 20km race walk world record at the French championships on Sunday.

Diniz, who also holds the 50km world record, clocked 1hr 17min 2sec to improve the previous record held by Russian Vladimir Kanaykin since 2007, by 14 seconds.

"I felt like I was flying," said Diniz, who accelerated in the final five kilometres. Diniz, however, has never made it to the podium of a world championships or Olympic Games in 20km, his best performance being a silver medal over 50km at the 2007 world championships.