IAAF Council modified the rule about Race Walking and now the women too can challenge on 50km, distance only reserved to men so far. Also the last August alterations were made during Beijing Congress but the officialisation came these days.
The first event for the new challenge will be the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships that will take place in the Italian capital the 7th and the 8th of May. Hence, in Rome, women and men will compete together and their results will be summed to determine the team result.
The maximum number of athletes taking part in the 50km race walking does not change, 7 athletes and only 5 of them can compete, regardless of being are men or women.
IAAF President, Sebastian Coe, commented: “I welcome this amendment which marks one of the last important steps to ensure equal competition opportunities for men and women at IAAF competitions. In recent decades we have seen the introduction of the pole vault and hammer throw for women. While there are still differences in some men’s and women’s events (e.g. the hurdle heights) the 50km race walk until now remained the last event solely open to men”
Photo Kevin Lee/Getty Images AsiaPac