The1988IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships was the sixth edition of the annual internationalroad running competition organised by theInternational Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). The competition was hosted by Australia on 20 March 1988 inAdelaide and featured one race only: a15K run for women. There were individual and team awards available, with the national team rankings being decided by the combined finishing positions of a team's top three runners. Countries with fewer than three finishers were not ranked. This was the only time that the event was held in the first half of the year.[1]
Norway'sIngrid Kristiansen defended her title with a winning time of 48:24 minutes.Wang Xiuting of China was runner-up nearly two minutes behind and was shortly followed byZoya Ivanova, who took third place ten seconds later. Ivanova led a Soviets to a comfortable win in the team competition with a total of 21 points coming from her,Yekaterina Khramenkova andLyudmila Matveyeva. China, entering the competition for the first time took second in the team race through Wang, fourth-placedZhong Huandi andWang Huabi in 25th. Portugal, the defending team champions, were led to third place byConceição Ferreira.[2]
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
 |  Soviet Union (URS)Zoya Ivanova Yekaterina Khramenkova Lyudmila Matveyeva | 21 pts |
 |  China (CHN)Wang Xiuting Zhong Huandi Wang Huabi | 31 pts |
 |  Portugal (POR)Conceição Ferreira Albertina Dias Albertina Machado | 37 pts |
World Championships organised byWorld Athletics | |
|---|---|
| Outdoor | |
| Indoor | |
| Continental Cup* | |
| U20 | |
| U18 | |
| Cross Country | |
| Race Walking | |
| Women's Road Race | |
| Marathon | |
| Half Marathon | |
| Road Relay | |
| Relays | |
| Ultimate | |
| Road Running | |
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