LOVE was in the air at the World Athletics Championships as two competitive race walkers got engaged at the finish line of the 35km walking event.

Slovakian walker Hana Burzalova was just crossing the line in Budapest when she spotted her boyfriend Dominik Cerny - who had just completed the men's event himself, waiting at the finish line.

Cerny got down on one knee to propose to Burzalova and luckily she had enough breath after her exertions in the race to accept his proposal.

Cerny celebrated by punching the air and then lifted his fiancee into his arms.

The couple then posed for the cameras with Burzalova proudly showing off her engagement ring in the photos.

In the process, Cerny, 25, placed 19th in his race, recording a personal best time of 2:32.56.

Burzalova, 22, finished 28th in the women's race but did clock a season's best of 3:02.47, meaning there was plenty to celebrate.

The couple regularly give an insight into their training and relationship on Instagram, which included a recent romantic holiday to Cyprus.

But Cerny was giving no hints of an imminent proposal on an Instagram story he posted before the race.

The story featured Burzalova preparing her hydration bottles and energy gels before the race in Budapest and he captioned it: "Ouch, here we go again."

The official World Athletics Twitter account posted their congratulations to the happy couple, posting pictures of the engagement with the caption: "She said YES."

Race walking also appears in the Olympics and requires competitors to keep one foot on the ground at all times to prevent running.

Judges sit throughout the race to ensure that competitors stick to the technique.

Ironically for the couple, a bent knee is also not permitted when competing in the sport, and penalties are handed out if the knee is bent within the race.

Race distances at the World Championships used to be up to 50km but this was cut to 35km last year, with a 20km race also included.