50 kilometres race walk

The 50 kilometre race walk^[2] was an Olympic athletics event that first appeared in 1932 and made its final Olympic appearance in 2021. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it.

Athletics 50 kilometre race walk
Men's racewalk. Walker at right appears to be illegal in that both feet are off the ground, but an infraction is only committed when loss of contact is visible to the human eye.[1]
World records
Men	Yohann Diniz 3:32:33 (2014)
Women	Liu Hong 3:59:15 (2019)
Olympic records
Men	Jared Tallent 3:36:53 (2012)

Yohann Diniz, world record holder

50 kilometres is approximately 31 miles.

The 50 kilometres race walk was dropped from the Olympic program after the 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021 and was replaced by a mixed team race, the marathon race walk mixed relay in order to achieve gender equality.^{[citation needed]}

World records

See also: Men's 50 kilometres walk world record progression

See also: Women's 50 kilometres walk world record progression

The men's world record for the 50 km race walk was held by Denis Nizhegorodov, through his race of 3:34:14 in Cheboksary in 2008, until it was beaten by Yohann Diniz at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich, in a time of 3:32:33.

All-time top 25

Men

• Correct as of December 2021.^[3][4]

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Ref
1	3:32:33	Yohann Diniz	France	15 August 2014	Zürich	[5]
2	3:34:14	Denis Nizhegorodov	Russia	11 May 2008	Cheboksary
3	3:34:38	Matej Tóth	Slovakia	21 March 2015	Dudince	[6]
4	3:35:47	Nathan Deakes	Australia	2 December 2006	Geelong
5	3:36:03	Robert Korzeniowski	Poland	27 August 2003	Saint-Denis
6	3:36:04	Alex Schwazer	Italy	11 February 2007	Rosignano Solvay
7	3:36:06	Yu Chaohong	China	22 October 2005	Nanjing
8	3:36:13	Zhao Chengliang	China	22 October 2005	Nanjing
9	3:36:20	Han Yucheng	China	27 February 2005	Nanning
10	3:36:42	German Skurygin	Russia	27 August 2003	Saint-Denis
11	3:36:45	Masatora Kawano	Japan	27 October 2019	Takahata	[7]
12	3:36:53	Jared Tallent	Australia	11 August 2012	London
13	3:37:16	Si Tianfeng	China	11 August 2012	London
14	3:37:26	Valeriy Spitsyn	Russia	21 May 2000	Moskva
15	3:37:39	Satoshi Maruo	Japan	27 October 2019	Takahata	[8]
16	3:37:41	Andrey Perlov	Soviet Union	5 August 1989	Leningrad
		Ivan Noskov	Russia	15 August 2014	Zürich
18	3:37:46	Andreas Erm	Germany	27 August 2003	Saint-Denis
19	3:37:54	Robert Heffernan	Ireland	11 August 2012	London	[9]
20	3:37:58	Xing Shucai	China	27 February 2005	Nanning
21	3:38:01	Aleksey Voyevodin	Russia	27 August 2003	Saint-Denis
22	3:38:02	Wang Qin	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan	[10]
23	3:38:08	Sergey Kirdyapkin	Russia	12 August 2005	Helsinki
		Igor Yerokhin	Russia	8 June 2008	Saransk
25	3:38:17	Ronald Weigel	East Germany	25 May 1986	Potsdam

Notes

Below is a list of other times equal or superior to 3:38:17:

• Yohann Diniz also walked 3:33:12 (2017), 3:37:43 (2019), 3:37:48 (2016).
• Denis Nizhegorodov also walked 3:35:29 (2004), 3:38:02 (2006).
• Matej Tóth also walked 3:36:21 (2014).
• Robert Korzeniowski also walked 3:36:39 (2002).
• Alex Schwazer also walked 3:37:04 (2008), 3:37:09 (2008).
• Robert Heffernan also walked 3:37:56 (2013).

Women

• Correct as of June 2021.^[11][12]

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Ref
1	3:50:42 [a]	Yelena Lashmanova	Russia	5 September 2020	Voronovo
2	3:57:08 [b]	Klavdiya Afanasyeva	Russia	15 June 2019	Cheboksary	[13]
3	3:59:15	Liu Hong	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan	[14]
4	3:59:56	Margarita Nikiforova	Russia	5 September 2020	Voronovo
5	4:03:51 [c]	Li Maocuo	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan	[15]
6	4:04:36	Liang Rui	China	5 May 2018	Taicang	[16]
7	4:04:50	Eleonora Giorgi	Italy	19 May 2019	Alytus	[17]
8	4:05:46	Júlia Takács	Spain	19 May 2019	Alytus	[18]
9	4:05:56	Inês Henriques	Portugal	13 August 2017	London	[19]
10	4:07:30	Ma Faying	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan	[20]
11	4:08:58	Yin Hang	China	13 August 2017	London	[21]
12	4:09:33	Claire Tallent	Australia	5 May 2018	Taicang	[22]
13	4:10:59	Monica Svensson	Sweden	21 October 2007	Scanzorosciate
14	4:11:01	Raquel González	Spain	10 February 2019	El Vendrell	[23]
15	4:11:12	Johana Ordóñez	Ecuador	11 August 2019	Lima	[24]
16	4:12:16	Yelena Ginko	Belarus	17 October 2004	Scanzorosciate
17	4:12:44	Alina Tsviliy	Ukraine	7 August 2018	Berlin	[25]
18	4:12:56	Paola Pérez	Ecuador	5 May 2018	Taicang	[26]
19	4:13:56	Mirna Ortíz	Guatemala	24 February 2019	Guatemala City	[27]
20	4:14:25	Mária Czaková	Slovakia	24 March 2018	Dudince	[28]
21	4:14:31	Jiang Pengqin	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan
22	4:14:49	Bai Tiantian	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan
23	4:15:33	Wang Yingliu	China	9 March 2019	Huangshan
24	4:15:42	Mayra Herrera	Guatemala	9 September 2017	Owego
25	4:15:46	Mar Juárez	Spain	16 February 2020	Torrevieja	[29]

Notes

Below is a list of other times equal or superior to 4:15:46:

• Margarita Nikiforova also walked 4:03:07 (2021).
• Inês Henriques also walked 4:08:26 (2017), 4:09:21 (2018), 4:13:57 (2019).
• Yin Hang also walked 4:09:09 (2018).
• Claire Tallent also walked 4:12:44 (2019).
• Júlia Takács also walked 4:13:04 (2018), 4:15:22 (2018).
• Ma Faying also walked 4:13:28 (2018).
• Johana Ordóñez also walked 4:14:28 (2018).
• Monica Svensson also walked 4:14:38 (2009).
• Klavdiya Afanasyeva also walked 4:14:46 (2018).
• Li Maocuo also walked 4:14:47 (2018).
• Mirna Ortíz also walked 4:15:21 (2019).

Olympic medalists

Men’s

edit

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1932 Los Angeles details	Tommy Green  Great Britain	Jānis Daliņš  Latvia	Ugo Frigerio  Italy
1936 Berlin details	Harold Whitlock  Great Britain	Arthur Tell Schwab  Switzerland	Adalberts Bubenko  Latvia
1948 London details	John Ljunggren  Sweden	Gaston Godel  Switzerland	Tebbs Lloyd Johnson  Great Britain
1952 Helsinki details	Pino Dordoni  Italy	Josef Doležal  Czechoslovakia	Antal Róka  Hungary
1956 Melbourne details	Norman Read  New Zealand	Yevgeny Maskinskov  Soviet Union	John Ljunggren  Sweden
1960 Rome details	Don Thompson  Great Britain	John Ljunggren  Sweden	Abdon Pamich  Italy
1964 Tokyo details	Abdon Pamich  Italy	Paul Nihill  Great Britain	Ingvar Pettersson  Sweden
1968 Mexico City details	Christoph Höhne  East Germany	Antal Kiss  Hungary	Larry Young  United States
1972 Munich details	Bernd Kannenberg  West Germany	Veniamin Soldatenko  Soviet Union	Larry Young  United States
1976 Montreal	not included in the Olympic program
1980 Moscow details	Hartwig Gauder  East Germany	Jordi Llopart  Spain	Yevgeniy Ivchenko  Soviet Union
1984 Los Angeles details	Raúl González  Mexico	Bo Gustafsson  Sweden	Sandro Bellucci  Italy
1988 Seoul details	Vyacheslav Ivanenko  Soviet Union	Ronald Weigel  East Germany	Hartwig Gauder  East Germany
1992 Barcelona details	Andrey Perlov  Unified Team	Carlos Mercenario  Mexico	Ronald Weigel  Germany
1996 Atlanta details	Robert Korzeniowski  Poland	Mikhail Shchennikov  Russia	Valentí Massana  Spain
2000 Sydney details	Robert Korzeniowski  Poland	Aigars Fadejevs  Latvia	Joel Sánchez  Mexico
2004 Athens details	Robert Korzeniowski  Poland	Denis Nizhegorodov  Russia	Aleksey Voyevodin  Russia
2008 Beijing details	Alex Schwazer  Italy	Jared Tallent  Australia	Denis Nizhegorodov  Russia
2012 London details	Jared Tallent  Australia	Si Tianfeng  China	Robert Heffernan  Ireland
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Matej Tóth  Slovakia	Jared Tallent  Australia	Hirooki Arai  Japan
2020 Tokyo details	Dawid Tomala  Poland	Jonathan Hilbert  Germany	Evan Dunfee  Canada

World Championships medalists

Men’s

Championships	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1976 Malmö	Veniamin Soldatenko (URS)	Enrique Vera (MEX)	Reima Salonen (FIN)
1983 Helsinki details	Ronald Weigel (GDR)	José Marín (ESP)	Sergey Yung (URS)
1987 Rome details	Hartwig Gauder (GDR)	Ronald Weigel (GDR)	Vyacheslav Ivanenko (URS)
1991 Tokyo details	Aleksandr Potashov (URS)	Andrey Perlov (URS)	Hartwig Gauder (GER)
1993 Stuttgart details	Jesús Ángel García (ESP)	Valentin Kononen (FIN)	Valeriy Spitsyn (RUS)
1995 Gothenburg details	Valentin Kononen (FIN)	Giovanni Perricelli (ITA)	Robert Korzeniowski (POL)
1997 Athens details	Robert Korzeniowski (POL)	Jesús Ángel García (ESP)	Miguel Rodríguez (MEX)
1999 Seville details	Ivano Brugnetti (ITA)	Nikolay Matyukhin (RUS)	Curt Clausen (USA)
2001 Edmonton details	Robert Korzeniowski (POL)	Jesús Ángel García (ESP)	Edgar Hernández (MEX)
2003 Saint-Denis details	Robert Korzeniowski (POL)	German Skurygin (RUS)	Andreas Erm (GER)
2005 Helsinki details	Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS)	Aleksey Voyevodin (RUS)	Alex Schwazer (ITA)
2007 Osaka details	Nathan Deakes (AUS)	Yohann Diniz (FRA)	Alex Schwazer (ITA)
2009 Berlin details	Trond Nymark (NOR)	Jesús Ángel García (ESP)	Grzegorz Sudoł (POL)
2011 Daegu details	Sergey Bakulin (RUS)	Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS)	Jared Tallent (AUS)
2013 Moscow details	Robert Heffernan (IRL)	Mikhail Ryzhov (RUS)	Jared Tallent (AUS)
2015 Beijing details	Matej Tóth (SVK)	Jared Tallent (AUS)	Takayuki Tanii (JPN)
2017 London details	Yohann Diniz (FRA)	Hirooki Arai (JPN)	Kai Kobayashi (JPN)
2019 Doha details	Yusuke Suzuki (JPN)	João Vieira (POR)	Evan Dunfee (CAN)

Women’s

Championships	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2017 London details	Inês Henriques (POR)	Yin Hang (CHN)	Yang Shuqing (CHN)
2019 Doha details	Liang Rui (CHN)	Li Maocuo (CHN)	Eleonora Giorgi (ITA)

Notes

1. Not recognised by World Athletics
2. Not recognised by World Athletics due to lack of international judges.
3. Not recognised by World Athletics