Race walking or speed walking 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 (to 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. World-class racewalkers can walk a mile (1.6 km) in under six minutes.

In competition, race walkers 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. It is an Olympic sport with distances of 20 kilometers for both men and women and 50 kilometers for men only.

Fitness-wise race walking it is said to exceed the caloric requirements of running.

Media Presence
Walk, Don't Run - A 1966 Cary Grant movie, revolving around race-walking at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. 
Rael's Racewalker - A 2005 Docu-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 Ecuador Paris August 23, 2003 
1:17:22 Francisco Javier Fernández Spain Turku April 28, 2002 
1:17:23 Vladimir Stankin Russia Adler February 8, 2004 
1:17:33 Nathan Deakes Australia Cixi April 23, 2005 
1:17:41 Hongjun Zhu China Cixi April 23, 2005 
1:17:46 Julio René Martínez Guatemala Eisenhüttenstadt May 8, 1999 
1:17:46 Roman Rasskazov Russia Moscow May 19, 2000 
1:17:53 Zhide Cui China Cixi April 23, 2005 
1:17:56 Alejandro López Mexico Eisenhüttenstadt May 8, 1999 
1:18:04 Lingtang Bo China Beijing April 7, 1994 

50 km
Mark Athlete Nationality Venue Date 
3:35:29 Denis Nizhegorodov Russia Cheboksary June 13, 2004 
3:36:03 Robert Korzeniowski Poland Paris August 27, 2003 
3:36:06 Chaohong Yu China Nanjing October 22, 2005 
3:36:13 Chengliang Zhao China Nanjing October 22, 2005 
3:36:20 Yucheng Han China Nanjing February 27, 2005 
3:36:42 German Skurygin Russia Paris August 27, 2003 
3:37:26 Valeriy Spitsyn Russia Moscow May 21, 2000 
3:37:41 Andrey Perlov USSR Leningrad August 5, 1989 
3:37:46 Andreas Erm Germany Paris August 27, 2003 
3:37:58 Shucai Xing China Nanjing February 27, 2005 

Women

20 km
Mark Athlete Nationality Venue Date 
1:24:50 Olimpiada Ivanova Russia Adler March 4, 2001 
1:25:18 Tatyana Gudkova Russia Moscow May 19, 2000 
1:25:20 Olga Polyakova Russia Moscow May 19, 2000 
1:25:29 Irina Stankina Russia Moscow May 19, 2000 
1:25:59 Tamara Kovalenko Russia Moscow May 19, 2000 
1:26:22 Yan Wang China Guangzhou November 19, 2001 
1:26:22 Yelena Nikolayeva Russia Cheboksary May 18, 2003 
1:26:23 Liping Wang China Guangzhou November 19, 2001 
1:26:28 Irina Pudovkina Russia Adler March 12, 2005 
1:26:35 Hongyu Liu China Guangzhou November 19, 2001