Athletics_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_20_kilometres_walk
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 20 kilometres walk
Olympic athletics event
| Men's 20 kilometres walk at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Olympic Athletics | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Odori Park, Sapporo | ||||||||||||
| Date | 5 August 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 57 from 28 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The men's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 5 August 2021 in Sapporo.[1] Approximately 60 athletes competed; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the number qualifying through time (no universality places were used in 2016).[2] The reigning champion is Wang Zhen of China.
This was the 17th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 1956.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 20 kilometres walk if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 1:21:00. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 60 is reached.[2][3]
The qualifying period was originally from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2][4] In July 2020, World Athletics announced that the suspension period would be lifted for the road events (marathons and race walks) on 1 September 2020.[5]
NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 20 kilometres walk.[2]
Men's 20 km walk
Entry number: 60.
The event consists of a single race.[8]
Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows.
| World record |  Yusuke Suzuki (JPN) | 1:16:36 | Nomi, Japan | 15 March 2015 |
| Olympic record |  Chen Ding (CHN) | 1:18.46 | London, United Kingdom | 4 August 2012 |
| Area | Time | Athlete | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa (records) | 1:19:02 | Hatem Ghoula |  Tunisia |
| Asia (records) | 1:16:36 WR | Yusuke Suzuki | Japan |
| Europe (records) | 1:17:02 | Yohann Diniz |  France |
| North, Central America and Caribbean (records) | 1:17:46 | Julio René Martínez |  Guatemala |
| Oceania (records) | 1:17:33 | Nathan Deakes |  Australia |
| South America (records) | 1:17:21 | Jefferson Pérez |  Ecuador |
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
The men's 20 kilometres walk took place on a single day.[1]
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 5 August 2021 | 16:30 | Final |
- "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- "Olympic qualifying system to recommence for road athletes from September 2020". 28 July 2020. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- "Definen a los marchistas mexicanos que irán a los Tokio 2021". www.milenio.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- Alternate Athlete: Hagen Pohle, SC Potsdam, qualified by Ranking.
- "Athletics Explanatory Guide" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. August 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- "Athletics – Men's 20km Race Walk – Final – Results" (PDF). olympics.com. TOCOG. 5 August 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.