Like every year at this time in the Statistics section were published graphs updated for trends of speed performances in road walking events.
As done last year also in 2018 we made two big changes:
• The first was to limit the historical view of the past to 1999, thus excluding from the statistical history the last years in which women still competed in the 10km;
• Ve also continued the analysis of the speed trend in 50km women.
The years taken into consideration were:
• 20 Km. Women - best (from 1999 to 2018)
• 20 Km. Women - average of the first 20 (from 1999 to 2018)
• 50 Km. Women - top (from 1999 to 2018)
• 50 Km. Women – average of the first 20 (from 1999 to 2018)
Short comment
Also in 2017 continued the suspension of RusAthletics (Federation of Russia) from international competitions despite the fact some were admitted to compete as ANA.
But the athletes of that Country have competed as fare as possible at national level. Relevant results have been taken into consideration.
In 20km the athletes of the RusAthletics (Federation of Russia) that influence our graphs are the following three:
- Yelena Lashmanova, who is the first in the world list of 2018 with a mark of 1:23:39 obtained with her victory in Cheboksary on June 9, 2018.
We have already had the opportunity to say that this result is the best ever obtained in the world, but that it will never be approved as a world record by the IAAF due to the lack of one of the fundamental requirements, that of at least three international judges from three different nations are judging the race.
- Mariya Ponomaryova, sixth in the world list of 2018 with a mark of 1:27:11 obtained with the second place of Sochi (behind Yelena Lashmanova: 1:26:23) on February 19, 2018.
- Sofiya Brodatskaya, ninth in the world list of 2018 with a mark of 1:27:42 obtained with the second place of Cheboksary on June 9, 2018.
The Nations represented in first 20 athletes are the following:
| Nation | Number of athletes |
| | |
| China | 4 |
| Russia | 3 |
| Spain | 3 |
| Italy | 2 |
| Lithuania | 2 |
| Brasil | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Czech Rep. | 1 |
| Mexico | 1 |
| Perù | 1 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
In 50km the athletes of the RusAthletics (Federation of Russia) that influence our graphs are the following three:
- Klavdiya Afanasyeva, who is the eleventh in the world list of 2018 with a mark of 4:14:46 obtained with her victory in Cheboksary on June 9, 2018.
- Aleksandra Bushkova, twentieth in the world list of 2018 with a mark of 4:22:36 obtained with the second place of Cheboksary (behind Klavdiya Afanasyeva) on June 9, 2018.
The Nations represented in first 20 athletes are the following:
| Nation | Number of athletes |
| | |
| China | 4 |
| Ecuador | 3 |
| Ukraine | 3 |
| Belarus | 2 |
| Russia | 2 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Mexico. | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| Slovak Rep | 1 |
In the 50km women in our opinion there are two points of greatest interest:
- the first is given by the presence in the first 20 athletes (those that have determined our average speed) of three athletes from Ecuador. All three got their best performance in the most important race of the year, Taicang, where they also climbed on the podium behind China, and leaving behind Ukraine and Spain unbelievably;
- the second is represented by the impressive growth of the average speed among the top 20 athletes compared to that of the top athlete.
| Evolution | 2017 | 2018 | Growth % |
| | | | |
| Top athlete speed | 12,19 km/hr | 12,27 km/hr | 0,66 |
| Average 20 athletes speed | 11,01 km/hr | 11,77 km/hr | 6,90 |
With these premises we take the responsibility to hazard the next year 2019 as that in which for the first time a woman will break down the wall of 4:00:00 and one in which the average of the top 20 athletes in the 50km will exceed 12 km/hr.
We'll see.
Graph of speed performance in walking women from 1999 to 2018: click here