The nine judges who in Doha (QAT) judged the three walk events up to date held for the 2019 World Championships can be considered lucky people.

First of all because some of them have crowned their dream of participating in a World Championship that is already, in itself, something not a small thing.

Secondly, because their good judgment allowed an order of arrival, in the first three events in the program, in which only one athlete out of the nine that won a medal arrived with a single red card.

This means that not only have the strongest which won (or those who have resisted the scorching heat of Doha), but the athletes have also arrived on the podium where technically there is nothing to complain about; not always happened in the past.

And this is already a source of pride for this jury: having been able to stop or invite to a more correct walk some athletes whose technicque did not always respect the canons of the "good walk”.

The penalties/DQ imposed, as we have seen on TV, were, in our opinion, more than fair.

In the two 50km a total of 36 red cards of which 24 (66.7%) concerned bent knee and the remaining 12 (33.3%) concerned the "flight phase".

In the 20km women orders have turned upside down: 38 total red cards of which 28 (73.7%) concerned the "flight phase" and the remaining 10 (26.3%) concerned the bent knee.

Several times on this site we have made some reflections in this regard and today we are pleased to note that finally our thoughts were shared by an international jury.

But our nine friends judges should be happy also for another fact: they have participated, as co-actors, to a 20km women among the most beautiful in the history of the World Championships.

Race walk showed at the Corniche in Doha, by Liu Hong and Qieyang Shenjie was a live manual of what is race walking: steps grazing to the ground, perfect movement of the hips, extension of the advancing leg even before the heel contact with the ground, almost parallelism of the knees to the ground. In short, a great view.

We do not want the other athletes who have reached the finish line immune to red cards, which are many, go bed for not being mentioned.  They also contributed to the beauty of this race.

We must also say that we have listened to television commentators accustomed to the international walk events, to praise these technique of Liu and Qieyang, obtained among other things in a very difficult temperature and humidity context.

Finally, in this context, Liu Hong’s words in an interview after the race, play as a music: "This is the third time I have won in the World Championships. I am very pleased that I won this time because tomorrow will be the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Winning all the three medals, this achievement is a good gift that we give to our motherland”.

Even the athletes have their share of happiness.