Who is she?
Diane Guignard is a provincial race walking champion who recently won the fourth Fall Classic race walk at Landsdowne Park in the 20 km division. She finished 13 minutes ahead of second-place competitor Susan Brooke.
What’s her background?
Guignard hails from Switzerland, where, until immigrating to Canada via the United States in 2020, she also enjoyed tennis, cross-country skiing and hiking.
Guignard began her professional career as a mathematician in 2017, travelling from Spain to Texas to Canada to participate in research projects and study under specific professors. One stint saw her teaching at Texas A&M University.
After her time ended in the United States, Guignard came to Canada to teach at the University of Ottawa. In 2023, she discovered a passion and talent for race walking. In an interview with Ottawa Sports Pages recently, she said “I walked fast, but I never learned to race walk.” Guignard had always preferred faster-paced hikes; the endurance and pace of that created a race walker described as a “natural” by coach Roger Burrows of the Bytown Walkers Club in an email to Capital Current.
“I was looking for something active and with a social aspect, I googled it and found the Bytown Walkers Club and joined,” Guignard told Capital Current.
Why is she known in Ottawa?
In addition to being a race walker, Guignard has been an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at uOttawa since 2020.
Race walking has two essentials that distinguish it from running: One foot must always be in contact with the ground and the knee must be straight at a short, defined part of each stride.
“Competitive race walkers are amazing athletes. They need the skill of a hurdler, the intensity of a middle-distance runner, and they often maintain that intensity long after distance runners have hit the showers,” said Burrows. Many walkers can walk faster than most people can run. According to Burrows, “you can add one minute per kilometre to a running performance for an equivalent race walk.”
Longer distances in race walking present a unique challenge. “I never tried the 20-km race before. I knew I could do a 20-km, but had no idea about the speed,” Guignard told Capital Current.
What do people say about her?
Students from the university have praised her on social media platforms such as Reddit for caring about her students. And competitors in race walking have consistently congratulated her on her recent achievement on the Bytown Walkers Facebook page.
What’s a lesser-known fact about her?
While Guignard is a professor of mathematics, and a winning athlete, she’s also a talented harpist. “I played and studied the harp since I was 10. I went to a conservatory and finished when I was maybe 21. I have a celtic harp in Switzerland but I have a much smaller one with me currently,” she said. When she isn’t teaching, or preparing for her next personal best time, Guignard finds time to play the harp for friends and families at weddings and other events.
