The men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place on 12 August on a route along Pontal. Wang Zhen was the first male athletics medallist of the games. His Chinese teammate Cai Zelin was second and Dane Bird-Smith of Australia took the bronze.
Summary Miguel Ángel López of Spain, the reigning 2015 World Champion, was among the favourites though he was not high on the world lists that year. The defending 2012 Olympic champion Chen Ding had been defeated in national competition by Wang Zhen, who was fifth on the seasonal rankings and had won the 2016 IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships. Cai Zelin (fourth at the 2012 Olympics) rounded out the strong Chinese team. Japan entered a fast team, headed by the world's top three ranked walkers: Eiki Takahashi, Isamu Fujisawa and Daisuke Matsunaga.Minshull, Phil (2016-08-06). Preview: men's 20km race walk – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-13.senior outdoor 2016 20 Kilometres Race Walk men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-13. The ban of the perennially strong Russian team affected the quality of entrants.
In the race, Tom Bosworth of Great Britain was a leader for much of the race until Wang Zhen increased the pace and disrupted the lead pack. Neither the Olympic nor World Champion could follow and López ultimately fell to tenth overall. Wang's lead was never assailed and his compatriot Cai ended the race as silver medallist some 12 seconds behind. Australia's Dane Bird-Smith outwalked home athlete Caio Bonfim to take the bronze medal, though Bonfim was rewarded with fourth and a Brazilian record.Minshull, Phil (2016-08-12). Report: men's 20km race walk – Rio 2016 Olympic Games . IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-13. While Bosworth faded to sixth, he still left with the British national record.
Schedule
All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3). Date Time RoundFriday, 12 August 2016 14:30Final
Records , the existing World and Olympic records stood as follows.
World record1:16:36Nomi, Japan15 March 2015Olympic record1:18.46London, United Kingdom4 August 2012
Result RankAthleteNationTimeNotes Wang Zhen 1:19:14 Cai Zelin 1:19:26 Dane Bird-Smith 1:19:37 Caio Bonfim 1:19:42 Christopher Linke 1:20:00 Tom Bosworth 1:20:13 Daisuke Matsunaga 1:20:22 Matteo Giupponi 1:20:27 Manuel Esteban Soto 1:20:3610 Evan Dunfee 1:20:4911 Miguel Ángel López 1:20:5812 Inaki Gomez 1:21:1213 Manish Singh 1:21:2114 Ever Palma 1:21:2415 Éider Arévalo 1:21:3616 Ruslan Dmytrenko 1:21:4017 Kim Hyun-sub 1:21:4418 Hagen Pohle 1:21:4419 Jakub Jelonek 1:21:5220 Alexandros Papamichail 1:21:5521 Isamu Fujisawa 1:22:0322 Álvaro Martín 1:22:1123 Pedro Daniel Gómez 1:22:2224 Richard Vargas 1:22:2325 Yerko Araya 1:22:2326 Marius Žiūkas 1:22:2727 Benjamin Thorne 1:22:2828 Máté Helebrandt 1:22:3129 Luis Fernando López 1:22:3230 Ersin Tacir 1:22:5331 João Vieira 1:23:0332 Anton Kučmín 1:23:1733 Rhydian Cowley 1:23:3034 Georgiy Sheiko 1:23:3135 Ihor Hlavan 1:23:3236 Hassanine Sebei 1:23:4437 Brian Pintado 1:23:4438 Nils Brembach 1:23:4639 Chen Ding 1:23:5440 Nazar Kovalenko 1:24:4041 Paolo Yurivilca 1:24:4842 Eiki Takahashi 1:24:5943 Aliaksandr Liakhovich 1:25:0444 Lebogang Shange 1:25:0745 Marco Antonio Rodríguez 1:25:1146 Alex Wright 1:25:2547 Artur Brzozowski 1:25:2948 Erik Tysse 1:26:0649 Kévin Campion 1:26:2250 Érick Barrondo 1:27:0151 Juan Manuel Cano 1:27:2752 Julio César Salazar 1:27:3853 Sérgio Vieira 1:27:3954 Hamid Reza Zouravand 1:27:4555 Francisco Arcilla 1:27:5056 José María Raymundo 1:29:0757 Choe Byeong-kwang 1:29:0858 Wayne Snyman 1:29:2059 Marius Šavelskis 1:29:2660 Nguyễn Thành Ngưng 1:30:0161 Byun Young-jun 1:30:3862 Mert Atlı 1:31:3663 Moacir Zimmermann 1:33:58 Samuel Ireri Gathimba Simon Wachira Perseus Karlström Dzianis Simanovich José Alessandro Bagio Andrés Chocho R230.7 Mauricio Arteaga R230.7 Ganapathi Krishnan R230.7 Łukasz Nowak R230.7 Quentin Rew R230.7 Gurmeet Singh R230.7
References