The topic: "Give us your opinion: how do you think the judgment will be in the major and most important competitions this season?".

We have reflected for a moment, and stimulated by a good glass of fresh white wine, he comes up with a: "Well we'll think about it".

And here, just over three months after his pseudo promise, today we find ourselves publishing a statistical analysis on the current trend of judgment in the most important races of 2022.

In this issue, the most important men's competitions of 2022 are analysed.

In a few days we will publish a similar work reserved for the female category.

Technical/statistical analysis of the judgment in the three major events of 2022

Three important events for the world race walk took place this year:

- Eugene World Championships;

- the Team World Championships in Muscat

- the European Championships in Munich.

We tried to analyse through the Summary the process and the tendency in assigning the yellow and red cards (without distinction between bent knee or loss of contact) and we tried to draw some conclusions on the parity or disparity of judgment between the three competitions.

The work was divided between men and women and the Nations with the most participants and, in particular, the most interesting high level athletes were taken into consideration.

The comment only analyses the general part concerning the various nations taken into consideration.

The work done does not have the presumption of wanting to draw cutting conclusions nor to rule on the judgments and technique of the athletes.

The aim was to analyse and try to understand how the valuation trend was in these three competitions.

Knowing the statistics has its advantages because they allow you to understand more deeply what happened in the races. They can allow the most attentive readers to draw the appropriate deductions and, consequently, develop their ideas in the best possible way.

The idea is to leave everyone who will have the goodness to read  this  analisys to form their personal vision and point of view.

Men (20km and 35km)

Yellow paddles analysis:

EUGENE:

In the 20km. among the 12 nations taken into consideration, the yellow pallets were: 79 equal to an average of 6.5 yellow paddles per Country.

A similar and similar situation arose in the 35km: 78 yellow paddles equal to an average of 6.5 per Nation. (see table 1)

From these data we can already ask ourselves some questions if we consider the difference in speed between the two races.

In the 20km the first three athletes walked at an average of 3:57 - 3:58 per km. equivalent to a speed of 15.2 km/hour.

In the 35km the average of the first three was 4:06 per km equal to 14.6 km/hour.

From an examination of the yellow paddles it would seem that the infringements (especially that of the loss of contact) do not take into account the different race speeds at all.

More simply it appears that the athletes of the 35km. being subjected to the technical judgment for an hour longer than those of the 20km they were exposed to a greater number of recalls by the jury.

MUSCAT:

In the 20km the yellow pallets were 119 equal to 9.9 per nation. In the 35 km there were 98 yellow pallets with an average of 8.1 per nation (see table 1)

MUNICH:

The eight most accredited Nations and the best athletes were analysed.

The yellow paddles were 72 in the 20km with an average of 9.0 per Nation.

In the 35 km. there were 39 yellow palettes with an average of 5,5 per Nation. (see table 5)

Referring to the yellow paddles (the calculations have always been made on the 12 nations taken into consideration in Eugene and Muscat and on the 8 in Monaco) we can see the remarkable diversity with which the three juries have evaluated the technique of the athletes.

The Eugene competitions were judged "less rigorously" by the jury, especially if we take into account that the athletes of these nations taken into consideration were almost the same as those who competed in both events.

In Eugene the diversity of references between the two 20km races. and 35km it's pretty much similar.

In these two events it should be noted that some athletes examined (5 out of 25) took part in both races.

It is significant to observe how 3 out of 5 athletes had more calls in the 35km than in the 20km.

In the other two competitions there were more jury calls in the 20km than in the 35km.

In Muscat the ratio of the yellow paddles between the two races, on the average of the Nations, is equal to 1.2 for each nation (average 9.9 / average 8.1); while in Munich the ratio is 1.7 (average 9.0 / average 5.5)

Red cards analysis

EUGENE:

The analyses made show that there were 23 red cards in the 20km with an average of 1.9 per nation (again for the same nations taken into consideration).

In the 35km there were 24 reds (average of 2.2) (see table 2)

As already noted for the yellow paddles, the jury estimated the athletes' technique in the two events in the same way.

MUSCAT:

There were 41 red cards in the 20km (average 3.4)

In the 35km: 34 red cards with a nation average of 2.8 (see table 2).

MUNICH:

The Summaries examined report these data:

- in the 20km: 27 red cards with an average of 3.8 per nation.

- in the 35km. red cards 21 with an average of 3.0.

Also in the analysis of the red cards, the main consideration is that the average of the main nations in the 20km recorded in Eugene was significantly lower than the other two events.

While in the 35km, on average between the three races, we go from 2.0 in Eugene to 2.8 in Muscat and finally to 3.0 in Munich.

It should be noted that the athletes examined in Eugene were 55; in Muscat 76 and in Monaco 35.

For this reason, the average and not the number of calls were taken into consideration in this statistic.

How many yellow paddles have turned into red cards?

A further observation that we want to bring to attention is the relationship and the difference between the yellow paddles and the red cards between the Nations examined.

This ratio allows us to know the attention curve of the individual athlete to the “message of the judge's caution”.

In Eugene we have a ratio in the 20km between yellows and reds of 3.4 (for each red there are 3 yellows). In the 35 km. the ratio is almost equal 3.2. (see tables 1 and 2)

In Muscat the ratio in the 20km is 2.9. In the 35km the ratio of 2.8 also is almost identical (see tables 1 and 2).

In Monaco we have these data: in the 20km there is a ratio of 2.6. In the 35 km. the ratio is 1.8 (see Tables 5 and 6).

While, as it appears, in the 20km there are no huge differences between the three races in the yellow/red ratio, the gap opens in the 35 km. where it goes from 1.8 in Munich to 3.2 in Eugene.

In practice in Monaco 1 red for every 1.8 yellow; to Eugene 1 red for every 3.4 yellow.

Other numerical analyses

Making a further calculation between the total of the yellow paddles and the red cards in the 20km compared to the 35km we find:

1. In Eugene there are 79 yellow and 23 red palettes (total 102) in the 2 km. In the 35km. the yellows were 78, the reds 24 (total 102). The total of the interventions of the jury was identical in the two races.
2. In Muscat these numbers are found: in the 20 km. the yellow cards were 119, the red cards 41 (total 160). In the 35 km. the yellows were 98, the reds 34 (total 132). There were 28 more decisions in the 20km.
3. In Munich you can observe these data: in the 20km. the yellow cards were 72, the red cards 27 (total 99). In the 35km. the yellows were 39, the reds 21 (total 60). The measures were 39 more in the 20km.

As for the recall gap between the 20km and 35km races (here we must take into account, as specified above, the different number of athletes taken into consideration between the various races held) the situation is this:

1. In Eugene we have roughly the same number of yellow and red cards in both the 20km and the 35km: one more yellow paddle in the 20km, one more red card in the 35km.
2. In Muscat the difference is 21 more yellow cards in the 20km compared to the 35km and 7 more red cards in the 20km
3. In Minich the difference is 33 more yellow cards in the 20 km. and 6 more red cards always in the 20. Here the difference of judgment between the various juries is considerably amplified

As previously said by analysing the various tables that have been proposed, one can indulge in searching and studying all the various situations that have arisen not only by examining the Nations that have been analysed, but also studying and examining the differences between the competitions for each nation and for each athlete.

From a quick observation, for example, it is obvious how some athletes were judged very differently during the races, while others who, in the opinion of several technicians from various nations, present various technical problems were practically never or little sanctioned. .

This raises attention to the problem of disparity of judgment in particular in the various continents that are appearing more and more forcefully on the international scene.

Now we haven’t no more the Race Walking Committee, which gave, at least, a small guide-line. Unfortunately, we are moving towards a non-uniform and univocal judgment.

Many people had expected the "cure-all" offered by technology (project insole) but nothing more was known about this.

Something and some new idea to reach a univocal judgment you will have to somehow, for the sake of the specialty, try to implement.

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For statistical tables: click here

 

Takahata 2022: turning point shot by Seiya Nagaoka - JPN
(from left: 9 Koraro Wake; Serena Sonoda; 10 Tatsuya Tanaka; Toshikazu Yamanishi, 4 Satoshi Maruo)