Race Walking for Dummies: General Rules and History

Race walking is an Olympic kind of sport that represents the world of athletics. It is different from traditional running in a way that a race-walking athlete should have at least one of his feet in contact with the ground at every particular moment. When it comes to men’s Olympic events, they compete in 20- and 50-km races, while women should overcome 20-km distances only. Competitions can take place both in and outside stadiums. The actual choice of a sight depends on a competition type.

General Rules

The sport of race walking is governed by two main rules. The first one was already mentioned. In other words, it states that athletes may not remove their back toes from the ground until the heel of their front foot touches it. The second rule, however, does not allow athletes to kneel their supporting legs until the body passes completely over it. There are no devices or applications that can help to judge these rules; everything depends on referees. That is why it is not a violation when an athlete loses contact with the ground for a few milliseconds. Even though this violation can be caught on film, athletes will not obtain any punishment for this.

There are also some rules applied to athletes’ arms. In fact, they should be low and close to their hips. If it appears that an athlete rises his/her shoulders, it can mean he/she has just lost the contact with the ground. Those who watch race-walking competitions for the first time admits that the athletes are odd enough. It seems that something is wrong with their supporting-motor systems. The truth, however, is that they are doing it intentionally to minimize sideways motions and to achieve maximum forward propulsion. Even though it is actually walking, the athletes do manage to achieve high speed. This is done with the help of short and quick strides that allow the best world athletes to achieve the speed of more than 30 km/hour.

Judges Explained

Every official race-walking event should be served by a few judges to monitor how participants follow the rules mentioned above. Three judges can give red cards that can result in disqualification. For competitors to see their violation status, they can give a look at scoreboards placed alongside a walking distance. If an athlete keeps performing the same violation for the third time, the chief judge will show him or her a red paddle, which would result in the removal. The judges do not need to run or walk through distances. Instead, the judges occupy a particular place, and race tracks are designed so that competitors pass by the judges several times during a single event.

Apart from the information above, a judge can show a warning paddle to inform an athlete he/she is in danger of losing form. This is also known as “caution”. Finally, no judge is allowed to show more than one card to a single athlete, while the chief judge may not show any cards at all. His function is only to disqualify athletes for serious violations of the rules. This kind of sport is peculiar in a way that disqualifications happen quite often even at the elite level. Some of them have become extremely popular. Among others, it refers to Yet Lyu who was disqualified 20 meters before the finish line. It happened at the 2017 World Championships.

History

Race walking appeared in the late 19th century in England when the Amateur Athletics Association organized the first competition of this track-and-field discipline. At that time, there was such a sporting discipline as pedestrianism. To tell the truth, it was an extremely developed and popular kind of sport of its time. Thus, race walking became its official and codified variation. The first official race-walking championship tool place in 1866 in England. “Fair heel and toe” was the only rule that governed that event. Nevertheless, it was that rule that gave rise for all the further rules that would govern the sport of race walking.

As it has already been stated, the Olympic Games witness 20-km events for both men and women, while 50-km distances are for men only. The 1904 Olympics saw the race-walking competitions for the first time; the discipline was a part of decathlon competitions. Race walking as an independent Olympic discipline appeared four years later, in 1908. 1,500 and 3,000-meter races took place. However, it was not until 1992 when women’s race-walking events were held. Apart from the Olympic Games, there are a lot of international competitions for athletes from all over the world to compete in race-walking skills and abilities.