Racewalking

Race walking

Race walkers at the U.S. World Cup Trials in 1987
Presence
Country or region	World
Olympic	Yes

Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).

There are two race walking distances contested at the Summer Olympics: the 20 kilometres race walk (men and women) and 50 kilometres race walk (men only). Both are held as road events. The biennial World Athletics Championships also featured these two events, in addition to a 50 km walk for women, until 2019. The 50km race walk was replaced by the 35 kilometres race walk as standard championship discipline in 2022. The IAAF World Race Walking Cup, first held in 1961, is a stand-alone global competition for the discipline and it has 10 kilometres race walks for junior athletes, in addition to the Olympic-standard events. The IAAF World Indoor Championships featured 5000 m and 3000 m race walk variations, but these were discontinued after 1993. Top level athletics championships and games typically feature 20 km racewalking events.

The sport emerged from a British culture of long-distance competitive walking known as pedestrianism, which began to develop the ruleset that is the basis of the modern discipline around the mid-19th century. Since the mid-20th century onwards, Russian and Chinese athletes have been among the most successful on the global stage, with Europe and parts of Latin America producing most of the remaining top level walkers. However, it has been particularly affected by doping, with many Russian world and Olympic champions testing positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Compared to other forms of foot racing, stride length is reduced; to achieve competitive speeds racewalkers must attain cadence rates comparable to those achieved by world-class 800-1,500 metre runners.

Rules

Men's 20-km walk during the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland. The walker at the right appears to be illegal in that both feet are off the ground, but according to the current rules, an infraction is only committed when the loss of contact is visible to the human eye.

There are only two rules that govern race walking. The first dictates that the athlete's back toe cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has touched. Violation of this rule is known as loss of contact. The second rule requires that the supporting leg must straighten from the point of contact with the ground and remain straightened until the body passes directly over it. These rules are judged by the unaided human eye. Athletes regularly lose contact for a few milliseconds per stride, which can be caught on film, but such a short flight phase is said to be undetectable to the human eye.

Athletes stay low to the ground by keeping their arms pumping low, close to their hips. If one sees a racewalker's shoulders rising, it may be a sign that the athlete is losing contact with the ground. What appears to be an exaggerated swivel to the hip is, in fact, a full rotation of the pelvis. Athletes aim to move the pelvis forward and to minimize sideways motion in order to achieve maximum forward propulsion. Speed is achieved by stepping quickly with the aim of rapid turnover. This minimizes the risk of the feet leaving the ground. Strides are short and quick, with pushoff coming forward from the ball of the foot, again to minimize the risk of losing contact with the ground. World-class race walkers (male and female) can average under four and five minutes per kilometre in a 20-km race walk.

Distances

Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969

Races have been walked at distances as short as 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) at the 1920 Summer Olympics, and as long as 100 km (62.1 mi). The men's world record for the 50-mile race walk is held by Israeli Shaul Ladany, whose time of 7:23:50 in 1972 beat the world record that had stood since 1935. The modern Olympic events are the 20 km (12.4 mi) race walk (men and women) and 50 km (31 mi) race walk (men only). One example of a longer race walking competition is the annual Paris-Colmar which is 450 to 500 km. Indoor races are 3000 m and 5000 m.

Judges

A racewalker "flying" (entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation)

There are judges on the course to monitor form. Three judges submitting "red cards" for violations results in disqualification of the competitor. There is a scoreboard placed on the course so competitors can see their violation status. If the third violation is received, the chief judge removes the competitor from the course by showing a red paddle. For monitoring reasons, races are held on a looped course or on a track so judges get to see competitors several times during a race. A judge could also "caution" a competitor that he or she is in danger of losing form by showing a paddle that indicates either losing contact or bent knees. No judge may submit more than one card for each walker and the chief judge may not submit any cards; it is his or her job only to disqualify the offending walker. Disqualifications are routine at the elite level, such as the famous case of Jane Saville, disqualified within sight of a gold medal in front of her home crowd in the 2000 Summer Olympics, or Yet Lyu, disqualified 20 metres before the finish line at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.

Beginning

The start of the 3500 m walk final, 1908 Olympics

Race walking developed as one of the original track and field events of the first meeting of the English Amateur Athletics Association in 1880. The first race walking codes came from an attempt to regulate rules for popular 19th-century long-distance competitive walking events, called pedestrianism. Pedestrianism had developed, like footraces and horse racing, as a popular working class British and American pastime, and a venue for wagering. Walkers organised the first English amateur walking championship in 1866, which was won by John Chambers, and judged by the "fair heel and toe" rule. This rather vague code was the basis for the rules codified at the first Championships Meeting in 1880 of the Amateur Athletics Association in England, the birth of modern athletics. With football (soccer), cricket, and other sports codified in the 19th century, the transition from professional pedestrianism to amateur race walking was, while relatively late, part of a process of regularisation occurring in most modern sports at this time.

The Walk was included at the 1876 to 1879 National Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships.

Olympics

Race walking is an Olympic athletics (track and field) event with distances of 20 kilometres for both men and women and 50 kilometres for men only.

Race walking first appeared in the modern Olympics in 1904 in the form of a half-mile (804.672m) walk in the all-round competition, the precursor to the 10-event decathlon. In 1908, stand-alone 1,500m and 3,000m race walks were added, and, excluding 1924, there has been at least one race walk (for men) in every Olympics since.

Women's race walking became an Olympic event in 1992, following years of active lobbying by female internationals.

A World Cup in race walking is held biennially, and race walk events appear in the World Athletics Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Pan American Games, among others.

World Race Walking Challenge

Since 2003, the IAAF has organised the IAAF Race Walking Challenge, an annual worldwide competition series in which elite athletes accumulate points for the right to compete in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final and to share over US$200,000 of prize money. The series of televised events takes place in several countries each year including Mexico, Spain, Russia and China.

Age Groups

USA Track & Field offers racewalking at the Youth, Open, All-Comers, and Masters levels.

High School: Racewalking is sometimes included in high school indoor and outdoor track meets, the rules often more relaxed. The distances walked tend to be relatively short, with the 1500 m being the most commonly held event. Racing also occurs at 3 km, 5 km and 10 km, with records kept and annual rankings published.

As an individual pursuit

While participating in races essentially defines race walking, it can be practised by individuals for their own benefit, much like joggers not taking part in racing. One former jogger has written about injuries sustained while running, recommending race walking, which is much easier on the joints, instead. Requiring to have one foot in contact with the ground at all times reduces the impacts on ankles, knees and hips which lead to running injuries.

Top performers

Men

20 km

Mark	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date	Ref
1:16:36	Yusuke Suzuki	Japan	Nomi, Ishikawa	March 15, 2015
1:16:43 1	Sergey Morozov	Russia	Saransk	June 8, 2008
1:17:02	Yohann Diniz	France	Arles, France	March 8, 2015
1:17:16	Vladimir Kanaykin	Russia	Saransk	September 28, 2007
1:17:21	Jefferson Pérez	Ecuador	Paris	August 23, 2003
1:17:22	Paquillo Fernández	Spain	Turku	April 28, 2002
1:17:23	Vladimir Stankin	Russia	Adler	February 8, 2004
1:17:25	Bernardo Segura	Mexico	Bergen	May 7, 1994
1:17:30	Alex Schwazer	Italy	Lugano	March 18, 2012
1:17:33	Nathan Deakes	Australia	Cixi City	April 23, 2005
1:17:36	Zhen Wang	China	Taicang	March 30, 2012
1:17:38	Valeriy Borchin	Russia	Adler	February 28, 2009

1. not ratified by IAAF because it didn't fulfil the criteria of having the required three international judges present.

50 km

Mark	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date	Ref
3:32:33	Yohann Diniz	France	Zurich	15 August 2014
3:34:14	Denis Nizhegorodov	Russia	Cheboksary	11 May 2008
3:34:38	Matej Tóth	Slovakia	Dudince	21 March 2015
3:35:47	Nathan Deakes	Australia	Geelong	2 December 2006
3:35:59	Sergey Kirdyapkin	Russia	London	11 August 2012
3:36:03	Robert Korzeniowski	Poland	Paris	27 August 2003
3:36:04	Alex Schwazer	Italy	Rosignano Solvay	11 February 2007
3:36:06	Yu Chaohong	China	Nanjing	22 October 2005
3:36:13	Zhao Chengliang	China	Nanjing	22 October 2005
3:36:20	Han Yucheng	China	Nanjing	27 February 2005

Women

20 km

As of June 2019

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Ref
1	1:23:39 1	Elena Lashmanova	Russia	9 June 2018	Cheboksary
2	1:24:38	Liu Hong	China	6 June 2015	A Coruña
3	1:24:47	Elmira Alembekova	Russia	27 February 2015	Sochi
4	1:24:50 1	Olimpiada Ivanova	Russia	4 March 2001	Adler
5	1:24:56	Olga Kaniskina	Russia	28 February 2009	Adler
6	1:25:03	Marina Pandakova	Russia	27 February 2015	Sochi
7	1:25:04	Svetlana Vasilyeva	Russia	27 February 2015	Sochi
8	1:25:08	Vera Sokolova	Russia	26 February 2011	Sochi
9	1:25:09	Anisya Kirdyapkina	Russia	26 February 2011	Sochi
10	1:25:12	Lü Xiuzhi	China	20 March 2015	Beijing

1. These times were achieved without the presence of international judges to officiate the competition or post-race doping tests, thus making them invalid for world record status. However, they are accepted as personal best marks for those athletes.

50 km

The women's 50 km walk is a new event, having been controversially added to the World Athletics Championships for the first time in 2017.

As of May 2019:

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Ref
1	3:59:15	Liu Hong	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan
2	4:03:51	Li Maocuo	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan
3	4:04:36	Liang Rui	China	5 May 2018	Taicang
4	4:04:50	Eleonora Giorgi	Italy	19 May 2019	Alytus
5	4:05:46	Júlia Takács	Spain	19 May 2019	Alytus
6	4:05:56	Inês Henriques	Portugal	13 August 2017	London
7	4:07:30	Ma Faying	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan
8	4:08:58	Yin Hang	China	13 August 2017	London
9	4:09:33	Claire Tallent	Australia	5 May 2018	Taicang
10	4:10:59	Monica Svensson	Sweden	21 October 2007	Scanzorosciate

In popular culture

Racewalking is sometimes derided as a contrived or "artificial" sport. In 1992, noted sportscaster and longtime Olympic commentator Bob Costas compared it to "a contest to see who can whisper the loudest".

In Malcolm in the Middle season 4 episode "Malcolm Holds His Tongue", Hal gets into the sport and exposes his local park rival as 'nothing but a common jogger' by proving that both of his feet leave the ground at once every fourth step.

In the 1966 film Walk, Don't Run, Jim Hutton plays a racewalker competing in the Tokyo Olympics. Cary Grant and Samantha Eggar co-star.

In the 2021 film Queenpins, actress Kristen Bell plays a 3-time gold medal Olympic racewalker and extreme couponer.

See also

• Power walking

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Race walking.

• Racewalk.com
• World Class Racewalking
• High School Race Walking
• Race Walking Record – News, photos and reports all about racewalking
• World Masters Race Walking Rankings
• Race Walk UK
• Race Walk Australia
• The Walking Site
• D. Guebey walking pages
• Swiss Walking Federation, official website
• Centurions History
• Ohio Race Walker magazine 1965 to 2014
• USATF
• AW Magazine's list of current records
• USATF American Records