For a brief moment the heal of the leading foot and the toe of the rear foot appear to be in contact with the ground simultaneously. When beginning walkers first hear this rule they sometimes think that they must walk with their legs straight all the time, this is not true. The only stipulation to obey this rule is that when a race walker s lead foot strikes the ground, their leg should be straight. It must stay straight until it passes under the body. Then it will have to bend to swing forward.
Proper race walking technique is both efficient and legal.
The primary objective is to maintain a constant velocity of the body s center of gravity without excessive vertical or side to side displacement. The visual impression of an elite race walker is of a steady forward motion without excessive bouncing or side to side sway. Our discussion of race walking technique will break the actions of race walking up from most important to least. Each action will be described giving the most efficient motion with watch for bullets highlighting common mistakes in race walking technique. To learn proper race walking technique it is important to start with correct posture , learn to benifit from a proper hip motion, while keeping your knee and foot action where they should be.