Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
Volodymyr Stepanovych Holubnychy was a Soviet and Ukrainian race walker, who competed for the Soviet Union. He dominated the 20 kilometre race walk in the 1960s and 1970s, winning four Olympic medals from 1960 to 1972 and finishing seventh in 1976. He became Olympic champion in 1960 and 1968. He is regarded as one of the greatest race walkers of all time and competed at the Olympics on five occasions in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976.
Giovanni De Benedictis is a retired Italian race walker, that won 9 medals at individual level, 7 of these at senior level, at the International athletics competitions. He participated at five editions of the Summer Olympics, this like only two others Italian athletes in track and field: the other racewalker champion Abdon Pamich and the sprinter Pietro Mennea. He also won four medals at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup team events.
Heraclio Eder Sánchez Terán is a Mexican race walker. He has competed at the World Championships in Athletics five times and represented his country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. He is currently serving the Mexican Army, and has won the Mexican 'Premio Nacional del Deporte'. He holds the Mexican record for walking over 5 km and 10 km. His best for the 20 km distance is 1:18:34 hours.
The World Athletics Race Walking Tour is a racewalking series organised by World Athletics. Athletes accumulate points in specific race walk meetings during the season. Performances in 10 kilometres race walk, 20 kilometres race walk and 50 kilometres race walk count towards athlete's final scores. Since 2011, racewalking performances at the World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games count towards the series. Women have competed in the 50 km distance since 2018.
Matej Tóth is a Slovak race walker. He is a former Olympic champion in the 50 km walk.
The Men's 50 km Race Walk at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California had an entry list of 31 competitors. Five athletes were disqualified, while nine walkers did not finish the race, held on August 11, 1984.
Cristian Andrés Chocho León is an Ecuadorian race walker who competes in both the 20 km and 50 km walk events. He is the South American record holder in the 50 km and 20,000 metres walking events.
Dominic King is a British racewalker. He was selected for the British team in the men's 50 km walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics, having previously competed for England in the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Igor Nikolayevich Yerokhin or Erokhin is a Russian former race walker. He was a participant of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and finished in 5th place in the 50 kilometres walk. In 2011, he placed second at the European Race Walking Cup.
Bo Andreas Gustafsson is a Swedish race walker. He has represented his country at the World Championship in Athletics on four occasions. He qualified for 2 Olympics by making the IAAF standard B in 2008 and IAAF standard A in 2012, but was not selected on the Swedish Olympic Team. His highest accomplishment is a 20th-place finish at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany. He was also 12th at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona and 21st at the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Anežka Drahotová is a Czech athletics competitor in racewalking, middle-distance running, and steeplechase, as well an international-level cyclist. She is the Czech record holder for the 20 kilometres walk and the 10 km track walk.
Race walking events at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event. There were three race walking events in the 2020 Summer Olympics: a men's and a women's 20 kilometres walk, and a men's 50 kilometres walk. The races were held in a final-only format.
Andrey Viktorovich Ruzavin is a Russian racewalking athlete who competes over the 20 kilometres race walk distance. He has a personal best of 1:17:47 hours for the distance, which ranks him in the top twenty of all time. Ruzavin was the silver medallist in the 20 km walk at the 2009 Summer Universiade and a bronze medallist at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup.
Dane Alex Bird-Smith is an Australian racewalking athlete. He competes in the 20 kilometres race walk, and has a best of 1:19:28 hours for the distance, set in 2017. He competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he was the bronze medallist. Bird-Smith represented Australia at the World Championships in Athletics three times, and has appeared four times at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships/Cup.
Massimo Stano is a male Italian racewalker. He competed in the 20 kilometres walk event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China, finishing in the 19th position, and the same event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, finishing in first place. On 24 July 2022, Stano won the 2022 World Athletics Championships with a championship record.
Teodorico Caporaso is a male Italian racewalker who won four international medals at senior level at the race walk competitions. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in 50 km walk.
Raymond Christopher Middleton was a British racewalker. He represented Great Britain at the 1964 Summer Olympics in the 50 kilometres race walk. He was also a six-time participant at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup between 1961 and 1973. He took silver medals at the 1963 IAAF World Race Walking Cup and 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Rhydian Cowley is an Australian race walker born in Glen Waverley, Victoria who specialises in the 50 kilometres race walk and 20 kilometres race walk. Cowley competed in the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. For both of his major championship competitions, Cowley qualified in the 20 kilometres race walk. He has also competed at a Summer Universiade, five World Race Walking Cups, and a World Junior Championships. In 2021, he competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he finished in 8th in the men's 50 kilometres walk with a new personal best time of 3:52.01 just 113 seconds behind the eventual winner Dawid Tomala of Poland.
Dzmitry Mikhailavich Dziubin is a Belarusian male racewalking athlete. He was the bronze medallist in the 50 kilometres race walk at the 2018 European Athletics Championships and won silver medals in that event at the European Race Walking Cup and Military World Games in 2019. He has represented Belarus twice at the World Athletics Championships and is a five-time participant at the World Race Walking Team Championships.
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