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
2013 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 20 kilometres walk 2013 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 20 kilometres walk The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium and Moscow streets on 11 August. The first leader was Takumi Saito who set the pace for the first 5K, opening up a gap on the pack, with his Japanese teammate Yusuke Suzuki the first to chase him down. Suzuki moved out to a 13-second lead by the 10K mark. The six chasers included all three 2012 Olympic medalists. The first to catch him was bronze medalist Wang Zhen who pulled out