Road running and race walking
World Athletics · 2026Measured road courses · Walking technique and penalties
Measured road courses
Road races follow a measured course; a marathon is 42.195 km. Athletes must not shorten the route. Organisers provide official water and refreshment stations; taking unauthorised supplies can bring sanctions, subject to stated exceptions. Course certification and record eligibility are separate checks, so a race result is not automatically eligible as a world record.
Walking technique and penalties
Race walking requires no loss of ground contact visible to the human eye; the advancing leg must be straight from first contact until the vertical position. Normally 3 red cards from different judges lead to disqualification. Where a penalty-zone system applies, they instead trigger the prescribed stop; an additional card from another judge brings disqualification. The chief judge has a separate final-stretch power.
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