Race walking at the Olympics Race walking at the Olympics Race walking events at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event. There are three race walking events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's and a women's 20 kilometres walk, and a men's 50 kilometres walk. The races are held in a final-only format. The first men's events came at the 1908 London Olympics, which featured 3500 m and 10-mile distances. A 10-kilometre version was introduced at the 1912 Summer Olympics and it continued until 1952 (skipping three editions from 1928–1936). There was also a one-off
Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres walk Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres walk The men's 3 kilometres walk event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on the track on Friday, August 20, 1920, and on Saturday, August 21, 1920. Twenty-two race walkers from twelve nations competed. These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics. Every race saw a new Olympic record. At first Donato Pavesi bettered the record in the first semifinal with 13:46.8 minutes. In the second semifinal his fellow countryman