You may think he looks funny when in motion, but he can probably walk a marathon faster than you can run one: On Friday morning, Matej Toth of Slovakia won the men’s 50-kilometer race in 3:40:58. At his average pace, he would have passed the marathon (42.2 kilometers) in roughly 3:06:30.
If you’re not a marathoner, consider Toth’s time in terms of 10K pace. He averaged 44:11, or 7:07 per mile, for five consecutive 10Ks.
The rules of race walking require that one foot always be touching the ground and that the support leg remain straight until the other leg passes it.
Last Friday, Zhen Wang of China won the men’s 20K race walk in 1:19:14. That’s four 19:49 5Ks in a row, and an average per-mile pace of 6:23.
There is only one women’s race walk in the Olympics: a 20K. The race was won on Friday afternoon by Hong Liu of China in 1:28:35, or about 22:08 per 5K. For how long could you keep up while running?
Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Running Is My Therapy, Advanced Marathoning, and Meb for Mortals. Scott has also written about running for Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
