Walking race facts for kids

20 km race walk.

Walking race, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. It is different from running: in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Stride length is reduced, so to achieve competitive speeds, race walkers must attain pace rates comparable to those achieved by Olympic 400-meter runners;and they must do so for hours at a time since the Olympic events are the 20 km race walk and 50 km race walk.

Images for kids

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  Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969

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  Liu Hong "flying" (out of contact with the ground) in sight of the judges during Women's 20 kilometres walk at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics where she won bronze

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  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.

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  The start of the 3500 m walk final, 1908 Olympics

See also

In Spanish: Marcha atlética para niños