Racing walking is an Olympic athletic discipline. Each athletic discipline has its beauty, its specifics, its circle of fans and professionals and thus contributes to the diversity of the athletic family. Compared to other members of the athletic family, racing walking has one specific additional feature: it is a movement where not only the achieved performance in objective measurable units is evaluated, but also the performance of a walking step during a competition in which one leg must be held permanently compared to running. in contact with the ground (there is no visible loss of contact of the pedestrian with the human eye) and the support leg must be stretched at the knee from the moment of the first contact with the ground until it is in a vertical position.
Sport walking as one of the disciplines of athletics is part of the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships on the 20 km and 50 km men's and women's tracks.
Furthermore, as a separate discipline, the European and World Cup of individuals and national teams for pre-qualified competitors is organized in walking.
In 2017, the European Walking Cup was held in the traditional stronghold of Czech walking in Poděbrady with an excellent organizational and marketing result.
The racing walk originated in the British Isles, although other countries also participated in its creation, let's remember only the Roman legions. Walking competitions were held as bets and as proof of physical fitness.
It is recorded by Sir Robert Carvey from 1589, King Charles II was a good pedestrian, in 1670 the English royal court watched the attempt to cover 5 miles under 1 hour by Lord Digby for a bet of 50 pounds.
She found herself at the Olympics for the first time in 1908 in London, the track measured 3 meters on the track and 500 miles on the track. The performances were not bad at all: 10:14 and 55:1:15. However, we must not forget that the definition of racing walking at that time looked somewhat different than it is today.
