Walking for 50 kilometers
Rules
Walking 50 kilometers is a discipline related to the athletic walking of the men’s track and field program. It is held on the highway. The 50 km distance starts at the stadium, then the athletes go out on the highway, do a few laps (usually in the city) and finally finish again at the stadium. The main mistake recorded by the judges is a violation of the walking style, the detection of the flight phase when both legs leave the ground.
History
It has been the Olympic athletics discipline for men since 1932. In 1976, 50 km walking was excluded from the program of the Olympic Games in Montreal (in 1980 it was included back). To compensate for the lack of an important start for athletes, the IAAF held a start in 1976 in Malmo (Sweden), which was awarded the status of the World Championship. These competitions are considered the first official World Championships in athletics.
Interesting facts
50 km walking is so far the only discipline that is not included in the official IAAF women’s competition program. Top-class athletes show results above 3 hours and 40 minutes at a distance of 50 km.
Records
Denis Nizhegorodov with a time of 3:34:15 Cheboksary, Russia, 2008.
The Olympic record belongs to Sergey Kirdyapkin with a time of 3:35:59 London, Great Britain 2012
