– This is a big change for the sport.
50 kilometer race walk world champion and World Championship and European Championship silver medalist Valentin Kononen is excited. Kononen’s enthusiasm stems from the ongoing development work in which he has had an impact in recent years.
Kononen has been involved in the project, the goal of which is to facilitate not only the spectators’ experience of watching the race, but also the work of judges and athletes. The project has mainly been carried out at a Spanish university, but its main characters have been former top walkers Tim Berrett and Jane Saville.
Kononen says that he is a kind of consultant.
– I have no salary or official contract. Let’s say that I am an active actor in promoting the cause.
The essence of race walking is to advance to the finish line as quickly as possible within the limits allowed by the rules of the sport.
In the permitted technique, the knee must be extended when the walker takes a step, and the leg must be straight up to the so-called middle support phase. The second and more difficult part of the rule is related to contact. This means that the walker should maintain constant contact with the ground while stepping.
In the Games, walkers go around a kilometer-long course. The course is usually a 500-meter long straight that the walkers cut back and forth. The jury spread out at regular intervals on the straight monitors that the walkers follow the agreed technique.
However, the truth is that walkers do not maintain contact when they step forward.
– At the moment, it is allowed that the walker must not be in the air perceptible to the human eye. However, the walker is actually in flight for about 40–60 milliseconds. It is a time that the judge is practically unable to detect. Or at least there are differences in who can, says Kononen.
For an incorrect touch, the jury gives the athlete a warning. Three warnings means in the current rules that the athlete has to be sidelined for a while and suffer a time penalty. The fourth warning knows the wreck.
Although racewalking is a brutal endurance sport, the sport has the human characteristics of a beauty contest at the same time due to the jury.
210 steps per minute
After his active career, Kononen has worked as a coach. His protege Aku Bearden recently walked sixth in the World Championships in Budapest in 20 kilometers with a Finnish record of 1.18.22.
Partanen’s speed means that he takes an average of 210 steps per minute, his stride length is 115–120 centimeters and the vertical movement of his stride is on average five centimeters.
The information is from Partanen’s smart watch, the technology of which is similar to that in the new project that monitors the contact rule, i.e. the “flight time” of the walker. It is based on accelerometers attached to shoelaces.
According to Kononen, the sensors are light chips that have been used in smart watches for years.
– I think it’s a smart system: existing technology and a relatively inexpensive one. It doesn’t cost thousands, but about a couple of hundred per athlete.
– This technology is still in the research and development phase. However, it has already been tested in Spain in youth competitions. The test results are very good.
Kononen has ensured the functionality of the corresponding technology at the Racing and Top Sports Research Center at KiHU in Jyväskylä. KiHU’s force plate sensors provide the same data as the new technology based on acceleration sensors.
– The chips allow the judges to use the walker’s flight time in real time. There is no need to do beauty pageant judging, but there is cold data behind the decisions.
– At the same time, the viewer’s problem is solved. If the viewer gets a clear signal that one of the athletes is breaking contact, the viewer can compare the techniques of the walkers. Until now, it has been very difficult for the viewer to distinguish who is on the air within the limits allowed by the rules and who is not. That’s why this reform is a really big deal for the sport.
According to Kononen, viewers on the spot or in front of the TV could get real-time information about pedestrians’ breakdowns, for example, from a wristband attached to the athlete’s hand.
– One idea has been a light device to be attached to an athlete’s wrist, which would flash red as a sign of a mistake. Or a message about a touch problem would appear on the television picture.
Kononen underlines that a single misstep should not be fined, let alone rejected.
– The notification would come, for example, from the average of ten (incorrect) steps.
Not yet next year
Although Kononen enthusiastically praises the new technology, it will not be in use at next summer’s European Championships in Rome, let alone the Paris Olympics.
– I would see the World Cup in Tokyo (2025) as possible, but that may be an optimistic estimate. If I say during the next Olympics, it will definitely go right.
Kononen finally sees light in the future of race walking after the difficult past years.
The legend believes the reform will help the sport retain its vital Olympic status. In addition, the technology makes it possible to bring short walking distances to stadium competitions, where enforcing the contact rule has been more challenging than on the road; the shorter the distance, the faster the speed.
Before introducing a new technology, the sports community must agree on the rules. In other words, about which reading the allowed “flight time” is determined or whether it is given up completely. The latter option would significantly change the nature of the species.
– It must be stated exactly whether any flight time is allowed. The device only informs when the athlete crosses the limit. That is, is it about 0 milliseconds or just 50 milliseconds, when the device starts to alarm.
– I see such a device as a really big plus and help. It brings clarity to the sport for all parties, says Kononen.