50 km walk (road), women

What to remember

In Huangshan, on March 9, 2019, at the Chinese Race Walk Grand Prix, Liu Hong covered 50 km in 3 h 59 min 15 s. That is an average of 12.539 km/h, held without ever running: in race walking, one foot must always touch the ground and the supporting leg must stay straight until the other one passes it.

Liu is above all a 20 km specialist. She was world champion over that distance in 2011 in Daegu, in 2013 in Moscow, in 2015 in Beijing and in 2019 in Doha, and Olympic champion in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. She also held the 20 km world record, 1:24:38, from 2015 to 2021.

On the men's side, France's Yohann Diniz had walked the 50 km in 3 h 32 min 33 s on August 15, 2014. On the Olympic programme from 1932 to 2021, the event was dropped after Tokyo, replaced by a mixed relay, and was also removed from the World Championships programme.