The former Ballarat athlete won the 20-kilometre race in La Coruna in a time of one hour, 21 minutes and 21 seconds, continuing his impressive build up to August's world athletics championships.

Despite being a regular on the podium on the international circuit, Tallent has not topped the podium since becoming the first person to take victory in the now iconic Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing five years ago, excepting a gold medal for the men's 20km at the Delihi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The 28-year-old made the decisive move at the 15km mark on Saturday, splitting the field.

Portugal's Jaio Vieira was second in 1:21:45 and Columbian Luis Lopez was third, six seconds further back.

The pair were the only two athletes that could keep pace with Tallent.

Fellow Australian Dane Bird-Smith was an impressive fourth in a personal best of 1:22:03.

Tallent is now in top spot on the overall Walking Challenge table with two events remaining.

Now based in Adelaide and coached by his wife and dual Olympian, Claire Tallent, Jared Tallent was excited by his performance.

"I'm so thrilled to be back on top of the podium. All the hard work we put in the last month in St Moritz has really paid off," Tallent said.

"To race so well over the shorter 20km distance gives me huge confidence that my world championship aspirations are on track."

Tallent will only contest the 50km event at the world championships in Moscow due to the scheduling of events.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Ballarat's Collis Birmingham finished 19th in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

Birmingham clocked a time of 13 minutes, 44.43 seconds in the 5000m event, which was won by Kenyan Edwin Cheruiyot Soi in 13:04.75.

Ballarat long distance athlete Nathan Hartigan finished fourth in a sprint finish to the Christchurch Half-Marathon in New Zealand yesterday.

Hartigan finished in 1:06:15 just 10 seconds behind event winner Hamish Carson.

melanie.whelan@fairfaxmedia.com.au