At the Summer Olympics, the 20km walking race has been a regular men's event since 1956, and a regular woman's event since 2000. The Olympic records were set in 2012; the record for men was set by China's Chen Ding, with a time of 78 minutes and 46 seconds, and the women's record was set by Russia's Elena Lashmanova, with a time of 85 minutes and 2 seconds. The world record for men was set by Japan's Yusuke Suzuki in 2015, with a time of 76 minutes and 36 seconds, and the women's world record was set by China's Jiayu Yang in 2021, with a time of 83 minutes and 49 seconds. The Soviet Union's Volodymyr Holubnychy is the only athlete to have ever won two gold medals in the 20km walk, in 1960 and 1968. Athletes representing twelve different countries have won golds across both the men's and women's events, with China and Italy taking four golds each.
Rules
It is a common misconception that competitors must have at least one foot on the ground at all times. In reality, contestants frequently have both feet off the ground, but this is only a punishable offense when the loss of contact becomes visible to the human eye. Although there is frequent video evidence that athletes may be "flying", judges are not allowed to use video assistance, therefore these infractions usually go unnoticed as the competitors have such a high cadence rates (i.e. steps per minute). To put this into context, Olympic race walkers have a similar cadence rate to those athletes running in the Olympic 800 meters.
Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020
(in minutes*)
Year
Men's 20km
Women's 20km
Tokyo 2020
81.08
89.2
Rio 2016
79.23
88.58
London 2012
78.77
85.03
Beijing 2008
79.02
86.52
Athens 2004
79.07
89.2
Sydney 2000
78.98
89.08
Atlanta 1996
80.12
-
Barcelona 1992
81.75
-
Seoul 1988
79.95
-
Los Angeles 1984
83.22
-
Moscow 1980
83.59
-
Montreal 1976
84.68
-
Munich 1972
86.71
-
Created with Highcharts 7.2.2YearFinishing time in minutes*Men's 20kmWomen's 20kmMelbourne 1956Rome 1960Tokyo 1964Mexico City 1968Munich 1972Montreal 1976Moscow 1980Los Angeles 1984Seoul 1988Barcelona 1992Atlanta 1996Sydney 2000Athens 2004Beijing 2008London 2012Rio 2016Tokyo 2020
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This data was collected using the official Olympic.org site, as well as a spreadsheet from the Guardian that includes data from 1896-2008 (available here), 2012 and 2016 data was compared with that from Encyclopaedia Britannica, and several news outlets were used to update the table when medals were reassigned (i.e. for doping offenses).
In order to display the data visually, the times have been converted into metric minutes. The standard times (male listed first) are as follows (mm:ss):
1956 - 91:27
1960 - 94:07
1964 - 89:34
1968 - 93:58
1972 - 86:43
1976 - 84:41
1980 - 83:36
1984 - 83:13
1988 - 79:57
1992 - 81:45
1996 - 80:07
2000 - 78:59 & 89:05
2004 - 79:04 & 89:12
2008 - 79:01 & 86:31
2012 - 78:46 & 85:02
2016 - 79:14 & 88:35
2020 - 81:05 & 89:12
The winning athletes (male listed first) and their represented countries are as follows:
1956 - Leonid Spirin (Soviet Union)
1960 - Vladimir Golubnichy (Soviet Union)
1964 - Kenneth Joseph Matthews (Great Britain)
1968 - Vladimir Golubnichy (Soviet Union)
1972 - Peter Frenkel (East Germany)
1976 - Daniel Bautista Rocha (Mexico)
1980 - Maurizio Damilano (Italy)
1984 - Ernesto Canto (Mexico)
1988 - Jozef Pribilinec (Czechoslovakia)
1992 - Daniel Plaza (Spain)
1996 - Jefferson Perez (Ecuador)
2000 - Robert Korzeniowski (Poland) & Wang Liping (China)
2004 - Ivano Brugnetti (Italy) & Athanasia Tsoumeleka (Greece)
2008 - Valeriy Borchin (Russia) & Olga Kaniskina (Russia)
2012 - Chen Ding (China) & Elena Lashmanova (Russia)
2016 - Wang Zhen (China) & Liu Hong (China)
2020 - Massimo Stano (Italy) & Antonella Palmisano (Italy)
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olympic.org, & The Guardian. (August 6, 2021). Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020 (in minutes*) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved April 07, 2025, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101016/olympics-20km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1956/
olympic.org, und The Guardian. "Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020 (in minutes*)." Chart. August 6, 2021. Statista. Accessed April 07, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101016/olympics-20km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1956/
olympic.org, The Guardian. (2021). Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020 (in minutes*). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: April 07, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101016/olympics-20km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1956/
olympic.org, and The Guardian. "Gold Medal Winning times in The Men's and Women's 20km Walking Race at The Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020 (in Minutes*)." Statista, Statista Inc., 6 Aug 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101016/olympics-20km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1956/
olympic.org & The Guardian, Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020 (in minutes*) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101016/olympics-20km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1956/ (last visited April 07, 2025)
Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics from 1956 to 2020 (in minutes*) [Graph], olympic.org, & The Guardian, August 6, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101016/olympics-20km-walking-race-gold-medal-times-since-1956/
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