Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and racewalking.
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, covering track and field, cross country running, road running, race walking, mountain running, and ultra running. Included in its charge are the standardization of rules and regulations for the sports, certification of athletic facilities, recognition and management of world records, and the organisation and sanctioning of athletics competitions, including the World Athletics Championships. The organisation's president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom, who was elected to the four-year position in 2015 and re-elected unopposed in 2019 for a second four-year term, and then again in 2023 for a third and final 4 years.
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).
The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by World Athletics. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. The first women's edition of the event happened in 1979. It was formerly known as the Lugano Cup after the city that hosted the first event, then became the IAAF World Race Walking Cup until 2016 and then IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships until 2018. In 2004, a junior division was added for athletes between 16 and 20. Since 2008 it has been a constituent meeting of the World Athletics Challenge – Race Walking.
Erik Tysse is a Norwegian race walker. He has competed at four editions of the World Championships in Athletics and represented Norway at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Liu Hong is a Chinese race walker. She is the world record holder over the Olympic 20 km distance with a time of 1:24:38 hours, set in 2015.
The Women's 20 km Walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 16, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate.
Masumi Fuchise is a Japanese racewalker. She was seventh at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and is a two-time Asian Race Walking Champion. In 2009, she set the Japanese record for the 20 kilometres race walk event. She also won the silver medal at the 2009 Summer Universiade.
The ninth edition of the European Race Walking Cup was held on the roads of Olhão, Portugal on 21 May 2011. The event was jointly organised by the Federação Portuguesa de Atletismo and the European Athletics Association. A total of 222 athletes from 26 countries participated in the competition.
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.
The Oceania Race Walking Championships is an annual race walking competition not only for athletes representing countries from Oceania, organized by the Oceania Athletics Association (OAA). It was established in 2011 and has featured races for senior men and women (20 km), and for junior athletes (10 km). Until 2014, all events were held together with the Australian Race Walking Championships, and the senior 20 km events were part of the IAAF World Race Walking Challenge.
The Grande Prémio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha Atlética is an annual racewalking competition that takes place in April in Rio Maior in Portugal. It is an elite level event which features a men's and a women's race in the 20 kilometres race walk.
The African Race Walking Championships was a quadrennial race walking competition for athletes representing countries from Africa, organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA). It was established in 1999 and has featured races for senior men and women. The 2005 edition was held jointly with the African Combined Events Championships. The 2009 edition also featured junior events. The 2013 men's event was part of the IAAF World Race Walking Challenge.
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.
Daisuke Matsunaga is a Japanese male racewalking athlete who competes in the 20 kilometres race walk. He holds a personal best of 1:18:53 hours. He represented his nation at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was the 2014 World Junior champion.
Pedro Daniel Gómez is a Mexican racewalking athlete. He holds a personal best of 1:20:05 hours for the 20 kilometres race walk, set in 2016. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and is a three-time participant at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup.
The World Athletics Rankings are an individual athlete ranking system for the sport of athletics, managed by World Athletics. It is used to establish the number one athlete within an athletics event and to partially determine qualification into the World Athletics Championships and the athletics at the Summer Olympics. The rankings are published weekly by World Athletics on Wednesday. WA President Sebastian Coe said the goal of this system is so athletes and fans "have a clear understanding of the hierarchy of competitions from national through to area and up to global events, allowing them to follow a logical season-long path to the pinnacle of athletics' top two competitions".
The IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final was an annual racewalking competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It served as the culmination of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge series from 2007 to 2012. It featured a men's and a women's 20 kilometres race walk. Any athlete could compete at the final, though to be eligible for the series prize money pot of US$202,000 a minimum of four finishes at Race Walking Challenge meetings held that year was required. If the points winner of the Race Walking Challenge series did not compete at the final, their prize money was halved.
Tatyana Nikolaevna Mineyeva is a Russian female former racewalking athlete. She won age category titles at international level, including the World Junior Championships in 2008, the European Race Walking Cup in 2009, and the European Athletics U23 Championships in 2011. She won a 20 kilometres race walk national title in 2011 and represented her country at senior level at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup. She won the 2009 IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final race.
