Beijing, Dec 17 : World Athletics will introduce half-marathon and marathon distances to race walk events in 2026 in an effort to help fans better grasp the speed of the sport, president Sebastian Coe has said.

Under the schedule for the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships on April 12, 2026, the traditional 20-kilometre race walk will be replaced by a half-marathon race walk, while the 35 km event will shift to a marathon race walk. It will be the first time the new distances appear at major international competitions.

"I think it's a good decision to change those distances to distances that people have become accustomed to in other events," Coe said during a virtual media call on Tuesday. "They can relate to the times, and it's often overlooked just how talented and how fast our race walkers are going."

Coe added that he expects the new distances to remain in place long term, noting they would also suit the Olympic program, reports Xinhua.

Race walk formats have undergone several changes in the past decade. The women's 50km debuted at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships alongside the men's 50km and both 20km events, but both 50km races were dropped before reaching the Olympic stage and replaced by a 35km event at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon.

The men's 50km was also removed from the 2024 Paris Olympics in favour of a marathon race walk mixed relay.

In April, the IOC released the Los Angeles 2028 athletics schedule, confirming the half-marathon as the only walking distance for men and women.

He also confirmed that the mixed 4x400m relay and the mile race â?? introduced for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow â?? will remain part of the programme for the 2030 edition as well.

Coe said he was as frustrated as anyone at the farcical situation surrounding the legal world record belonging to banned Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich's marathon, but added that the governing body's hands are tied. Chepngetich's astonishing two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds run in Chicago in October 2024 remains the legal world record even though she was handed a three-year anti-doping ban this year, with her results expunged only from March.

|Coe said that her excuse that she took her housemaid's medicine was dismissed by the Athletics Integrity Unit, which says it is continuing to investigate Chepngetich for other potential violations.

/IANS