Race walking
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Racewalking is a special long-distance race event in athletics in which the participants must walk. It is distinguished from running by the requirement that at any time at least one foot has contact with the ground (judged by the naked eye) and the supporting leg must be straightened (not bent at the knee) from the moment of the first impact of the foot with the ground until the supporting leg passes below the body). The participants swivel and tilt their hips to lengthen their strides and strive to get up on the toe as high as possible, while keeping the leading foot on the ground. World-class racewalkers can walk a mile (1.6 km) in under six minutes.
In competition, racewalkers are expected to maintain good form and are penalized for bending the knee as it passes under the body or having no foot-to-ground contact. The latter infraction is known as lifting. There are judges on the course to monitor form and three judges submitting "red cards" for violations results in disqualification. 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 "warn" a competitor that they are in danger of losing form by using a yellow paddle showing either lifting or bent knees. Disqualifications are routine at the elite level, a particularly infamous incident was the disqualification of Jane Saville a few hundred metres from a gold medal in front of a home crowd at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.
Race walking is an Olympic sport with distances of 20 kilometers for both men and women and 50 kilometers for men only. Fitness-wise, it is said to exceed the caloric requirements of running because of stronger arm motion and less efficiency than running.
While race walking is the official name for the sport, many people who are not familiar with the event call it speedwalking, as racers walk at a fast pace. This term is disliked by racewalkers, as it is the term that was used by those in the fitness industry (i.e. not track & field) to denote extra exertion while walking, but without any of the rules explained above.
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Race walking in film
- Walk Don't Run: A 1966 Cary Grant movie, revolving around race-walking at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
- Rael's Racewalker: A 2005 documentary film adapted from footage of an actual World Masters Championship Racewalk event.
Top 10 performers
- Accurate as of January 1, 2006.
Men
20 km
| Mark | Athlete | Nationality | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:17:21 | Jefferson Pérez | Template:ECU | Paris | August 23, 2003 |
| 1:17:22 | Francisco Javier Fernández | Template:ESP | Turku | April 28, 2002 |
| 1:17:23 | Vladimir Stankin | Template:RUS | Adler | February 8, 2004 |
| 1:17:33 | Nathan Deakes | Template:AUS | Cixi | April 23, 2005 |
| 1:17:41 | Hongjun Zhu | Template:CHN | Cixi | April 23, 2005 |
| 1:17:46 | Julio René Martínez | Template:GUA | Eisenhüttenstadt | May 8, 1999 |
| 1:17:46 | Roman Rasskazov | Template:RUS | Moscow | May 19, 2000 |
| 1:17:53 | Zhide Cui | Template:CHN | Cixi | April 23, 2005 |
| 1:17:56 | Alejandro López | Template:MEX | Eisenhüttenstadt | May 8, 1999 |
| 1:18:04 | Lingtang Bo | Template:CHN | Beijing | April 7, 1994 |
50 km
| Mark | Athlete | Nationality | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:35:29 | Denis Nizhegorodov | Template:RUS | Cheboksary | June 13, 2004 |
| 3:36:03 | Robert Korzeniowski | Template:POL | Paris | August 27, 2003 |
| 3:36:06 | Chaohong Yu | Template:CHN | Nanjing | October 22, 2005 |
| 3:36:13 | Chengliang Zhao | Template:CHN | Nanjing | October 22, 2005 |
| 3:36:20 | Yucheng Han | Template:CHN | Nanjing | February 27, 2005 |
| 3:36:42 | German Skurygin | Template:RUS | Paris | August 27, 2003 |
| 3:37:26 | Valeriy Spitsyn | Template:RUS | Moscow | May 21, 2000 |
| 3:37:41 | Andrey Perlov | Template:URS | Leningrad | August 5, 1989 |
| 3:37:46 | Andreas Erm | Template:GER | Paris | August 27, 2003 |
| 3:37:58 | Shucai Xing | Template:CHN | Nanjing | February 27, 2005 |
Women
20 km
| Mark | Athlete | Nationality | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:24:50 | Olimpiada Ivanova | Template:RUS | Adler | March 4, 2001 |
| 1:25:18 | Tatyana Gudkova | Template:RUS | Moscow | May 19, 2000 |
| 1:25:20 | Olga Polyakova | Template:RUS | Moscow | May 19, 2000 |
| 1:25:29 | Irina Stankina | Template:RUS | Moscow | May 19, 2000 |
| 1:25:59 | Tamara Kovalenko | Template:RUS | Moscow | May 19, 2000 |
| 1:26:22 | Yan Wang | Template:CHN | Guangzhou | November 19, 2001 |
| 1:26:22 | Yelena Nikolayeva | Template:RUS | Cheboksary | May 18, 2003 |
| 1:26:23 | Liping Wang | Template:CHN | Guangzhou | November 19, 2001 |
| 1:26:28 | Irina Pudovkina | Template:RUS | Adler | March 12, 2005 |
| 1:26:35 | Hongyu Liu | Template:CHN | Guangzhou | November 19, 2001 |
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