This is the 13th and final post in which TFI will preview all 48 events that will comprise the athletics portion of the Olympic Games in Paris. The track and field competition will run from Thursday, August 1, through Sunday, August 11.
MEN’S 20-KILOMETER
World Record: 1:16:36, Yusuke Suzuki (Japan), 2015.
Olympic Record: 1:18:46, Chen Ding (China), 2012.
World leader: 1:16:51, Koki Ikeda (Japan).
RECENT GLOBAL CHAMPIONS
2023 World Championships: Alvaro Martin (Spain), 1:17:32.
2022 World Championships: Toshikazu Yamanishi (Japan), 1:19:07.
2021 Olympic Games: Massimo Stano (Italy), 1:21:05.
2019 World Championships: Yamanishi, 1:26:34.
2017 World Championships: Elder Arevalo (Colombia), 1:18:53.
2016 Olympic Games: Zhen Wang (China), 1:19:14.
SCHEDULE
August 1: Final, 1:30 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time.
OUTLOOK
Koki Ikeda of Japan finished a disappointing 15th in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last year, after forcing the pace for much of the race. But he turned in a superb time of 1 hour 16 minutes 51 seconds in winning the 107th edition of the Japanese Race Walking Championships in mid-February. The time was the third-fastest in history, move him to third on the all-time performer list and was the fastest in the world since compatriot Yusuke Suzuki set the world record of 1:16:36 in 2015. Ikeda went on to finish fifth in 1:17:59 in the Gran Premio Cantones de A Coruna de Marcha race in La Coruna, Spain, in mid-May, but he could be due for a gold medal in Paris after previously finishing sixth in the 2019 World Championships and second in both the Olympic Games in 2021 and the World Championships in 2022. Jun Zhang of China and Massimo Stano of Italy are tied for second on the yearly world performer list after being credited with identical times of 1:17:26 while finishing first and second in the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix in March. However, they have had contrasting levels of success in global title meets in recent years. Zhang placed eighth in the 20k race in the Olympics before finishing 24th and 29th in the last two World championship meets. Massimo placed seventh in the 35-kilometer walk in last year’s World Championships after dropping out of the 20k event five days earlier, but he won the longer race in the 2022 meet and took the shorter one when it was staged in Sapporo, Japan, for the Olympics in 2021. Alvaro Martin of Spain is one of another six entrants in the field who have season bests ranging from 1:17:42 to 1:17:49. Martin won the 20- and 35-kilometer races in last year’s World Championships and has finished second in a pair of 20k events this year, with his best of 1:17:49 coming in La Coruna. Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden, second behind Martin in the World Championships, does not have sparkling season best at 1:18:22. But he has won three consecutive races, including the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in April and the European Athletics Championships in June, after dropping out of his season-opening race in the Chinese Grand Prix. Brian Daniel Pintado of Ecuador, second in the 35k race in last’s year world title meet, has been hyper-consistent in the 20k this year with one first-place finish, one second, and three thirds in his five outings. He posted his season best of 1:17:44 while finishing third in the Chinese Grand Prix behind Zhang and Stano.
WOMEN’S 20-KILOMETER
World Record: 1:23:49, Yang Jiayu, (China), 2021.
Olympic Record: 1:25:16, Qieyang Shijie (China), 2012.
World Leader: 1:24:31, Elvira Chepareva (Russia).
RECENT GLOBAL CHAMPIONS
2023 World Championships: Maria Perez (Spain), 1:26:51.
2022 World Championships: Kimberly Garcia (Peru), 1:26:58.
2021 Olympic Games: Antonella Palmisano (Italy), 1:29:12.
2019 World Championships: Liu Hong (China), 1:32:53.
2017 World Championships: Yang Jiayu (China), 1:26:18.
2016 Olympic Games: Hong, 1:28:35.
SCHEDULE
August 1: Final, 3:20 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time.
OUTLOOK
Kimberly Garcia’s season got off to a rough start when stomach issues forced her to drop out of a race in Dudince, Slovakia, in March, but the Peruvian is unbeaten in four races since then and recorded her season best of 1:26:41 in the Gran Premio Cantones de A Coruna de Mara in La Coruna, Spain, in May. Garcia had won both the 20- and 35-kilometer races in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, but she finished fourth in the 20k and second in the 35k in the last year’s meet in Budapest, Hungary. Maria Perez of Spain won both of those races in the Hungarian capital, but she has had a relatively quiet season thus far, competing on a mixed relay team that finished 10th in the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in late April, winning a pair of 5,000-meter races in May, and placing seventh in La Coruna with a time of 1:27:43. The Chinese duo of Zhenxia Ma and Jiayu Yang have posted the fastest times this year among Olympic entrants as they both clocked 1:26:07 in placing first and second in the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix. However, Yang finished sixth in 1:27:27 in La Coruna and Ma was eighth in 1:28:14. Hong Liu, another standout competitor from China, posted her season best of 1:26:47 while finishing 40 seconds behind compatriots Ma and Yang in the Chinese Grand Prix. However, she was ahead of both on them in La Coruna as she placed third in 1:27:11. Alegna Gonzalez of Mexico and Jemima Montag of Australia could also be in the thick of the medal picture in Paris. Gonzalez has placed fifth, seventh, and fifth in the last three global championships and finished second in La Coruna in 1:26:57. Montag finished sixth in the Olympic Games in 2021 before placing fourth in the 2022 World Championships and second last year. Vivianne Lyra of Brazil placed eighth in last year’s World Championships and lowered her personal best to 1:27:13 while placing fourth in La Coruna. Elvira Chepareva and Reykhan Kagramanova posted the two fastest times in the world this year when they clocked 1:24:31 and 1:24:47, respectively, in finishing first and second in the Russian Race Walking Championships in February. But they will not be competing in the Olympics because World Athletics made a decision to ban all Russian and Belarussian track and field athletes from taking part in the Olympics due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Belarussian athletes are prohibited from competing since the government of Belarus provided logistical support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and continues to support the country’s war against Ukraine.