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
2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk were as follows: 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk The women's 20 kilometres walk was held on a 2 kilometre course comprising lengths of The Mall between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch on 13 August. Defending champion, Olympic champion and defending champion Liu Hong was absent. Still the race started faster than the Olympics. A pack of 20 formed on the front. That pack was whittled down to 10 by the half way point. That group reduced to five by 12K after Kimberly García (Peru) fell off the pace; two Chinese, Yang Jiayu and Lü Xiuzhi;