Hacker News Reader

Comment by rowanG077 | Hacker News Reader

It's hardly "walking". It's basically just a silly way to run.

We can't call it running if at least one foot has to be on the ground at a time. That requirement also drastically limits stride length, giving an inherent advantage to the runner.

If you watch professional speed walkers they frequently have both feet off the ground.

Just like in the NBA many players travel all the time, but it just isn't called.

It's an open secret that "cheating" (i.e. not having both feet planted) is ubiquitous, to the point that since 1996 the official rule is now "not naked-eye visible loss of contact, or visibly bent knee". You can watch any slow-motion video of racewalkers and they seem to lose contact on every stride.

And they seem to break that break even that very loose rule when they think they can get away with it. With cheap modern tech I am sure they could enforce the contact rules.

A bomb on a pair of deadman switches? You don't need modern tech...

Yeh there was a lot of consternation in the sport the other year because it's now very easy to enforce but all the current pros would be DQ'd

“Race walking” is distinguished from “running” based on technique. In this case, “walking” is defined very strictly as “never having both feet off the ground.”

Yes, obviously it’s just a silly way to run, if “run” is “move fast on foot”.

It’s just that “race walking” is fewer words than “a silly way to run where you have to keep one foot on the ground always.”

This isn't strictly enforced, though.

It's not that it isn't enforced, it's that the rule is very specifically that it must appear that one foot is always touching the ground when watched in real time with human eyes, the rule isn't that one foot must technically always be touching the ground.

That very well may be the rule, but you can't then argue that it isn't a "silly way to run". It clearly is if both feet can be in the air at the same time.

I completely agree, especially with the "silly" part!

There is also a rule about a straight leading leg. That puts a limit on the leaping. A leg not being straight is pretty visible.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com