Gold medal times in the 20km walking race at the Summer Olympics 1956-2020
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.
