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
2011 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk primary opposition. Outside of the Russians, 2009 medallists Olive Loughnane and Liu Hong were the other major medal contenders. Other entrants were Qieyang Shenjie, Li Yanfei, Beatriz Pascual, Kumi Otoshi and Vera Santos – all of whom were among the fastest walkers that year. 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk ] The Women's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held on a loop course starting and finishing at Gukchae - bosang Memorial Park on August 31. Olga Kaniskina of Russia looked to continue a series of major victories which had