100 kilometres race walk

Athletics 100-kilometer walk
Men's racewalk. Walker at right appears to be illegal in that both feet are off the ground, but an infraction is only committed when loss of contact is visible to the human eye.[1]
Characteristics
Category	Racewalking event

The 100-kilometer race walk is a racewalking event. The event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it. 100 kilometers is 62.14 miles.^[2]

History

Shaul Ladany (center)

Against the wishes of the Israeli track and field authorities, because the Munich Massacre had just taken place, Israel Shaul Ladany competed and won the gold medal in the World 100 km walking title at the 1972 World Championships in Switzerland, in a time of 9:31:00.^[3][4][5]

U.S. record

The United States record is 9:36:33, set by Dan Pierce in Houston, Texas, on December 2, 1987.^[6][7]

References

1. Belson, Ken. "One Step at a Time? It’s More Complicated Than That" New York Times (August 10, 2012)
2. "Kilometers to Miles Conversion Calculator and Table – Convert Kilometers (km) to Miles". Retrieved February 28, 2013.
3. "Shaul Ladany Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
4. "Shaul Ladany". Jewishsports.net. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
5. Al Levine (March 1, 1973). "World will Forget Munich – not Everyone is Jewish". The Miami News. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
6. "Statistics – Records". USATF. January 17, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
7. "Mens Records". Racewalk.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.