The women's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 6 August 2021 in Sapporo. Approximately 60 athletes has qualified; the exact number depended on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the number qualifying through time (one universality place was used in 2016). The actual number of participants was 58 walkers, and the winner was Antonella Palmisano of Italy.
Background
This was the 6th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 2000.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women's 20 kilometres walk if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 1:31:00. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, was then used to qualify athletes until the cap of 60 is reached.
The qualifying period was originally from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The most recent Area Championships was available to be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period. In July 2020, World Athletics announced that the suspension period would be lifted for the road events (marathons and race walks) on 1 September 2020.
NOCs were able to use also their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 20 kilometres walk.
Women's 20 km walk
Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Nominated athletes Entry standard – 1:31:003 Liu HongQieyang ShijieYang Jiayu3 Karla JaramilloGlenda MorejónPaola Pérez3 Eleonora GiorgiAntonella PalmisanoValentina Trapletti3 Alegna GonzálezIlse GuerreroValeria Ortuño3 Laura García-CaroRaquel GonzálezMaría Pérez3 Lyudmila OlyanovskaMariia SakharukHanna Shevchuk2 Katie HaywardJemima Montag2 Viktoryia RashchupkinaAnna Terlyukevich2 Sandra ArenasSandra Galvis2 Mayra HerreraMirna Ortiz2 Priyanka GoswamiBhawna Jat2 Nanako FujiiKumiko Okada1 Živilė VaiciukevičiūtėGERIAUSIA LIETUVOS LENGVAATLETĖ ŽIVILĖ VAICIUKEVIČIŪTĖ BAIGĖ KARJERĄ Brigita Virbalytė2 Mary Luz AndíaKimberly García2 Meryem BekmezAyşe Tekdal1 Érica de Sena1 Noelia Vargas1 Tereza Ďurdiaková1 Saskia Feige1 Antigoni Drisbioti1 Ayman Ratova0 Emily Wamusyi Ngii1 Katarzyna Zdziebło1 Ana Cabecinha1 Elvira KhasanovaWorld ranking2 Kiriaki FiltisakouPanagiota Tsinopoulou2 Barbara KovácsViktória Madarász1 Rebecca Henderson1 Anastasiya Rarouskaya1 Ángela Castro1 Yeseida Carrillo1 Anežka Drahotová1 Yehualeye Beletew1 Ching Siu Nga1 Kaori Kawazoe1 Leydi Guerra1 Mária Czaková1 Evin Demir1 Robyn Stevens Total 60
Competition format and course
The event consists of a single race.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows.
Area Time Athlete Nation Africa 1:30:43 Grace Wanjiru Njue Asia 1:23:49 Yang Jiayu Europe 1:25:02 Elena Lashmanova North, Central America and Caribbean 1:26:17 María Guadalupe González Oceania 1:27:44 Jane Saville South America 1:25:29 Glenda Morejón
Schedule
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
The women's 20 kilometres walk took place on a single day.
Date Time Round Friday, 6 August 2021 16:30 Final
Results
Key: ~Loss of contact>Bent kneeTR 54.7.5Disqualified by Rule TR 54.7.5
Rank Athlete Nation Time Time behind Notes Antonella Palmisano 1:29:12 +0.00 Sandra Arenas 1:29:37 +0:25 ~~ Liu Hong 1:29:57 +0:45 ~~ 4María Pérez 1:30:05 +0:53 5Alegna González 1:30:33 +1:21 6Jemima Montag 1:30:39 +1:27 ~ 7Qieyang Shijie 1:31:04 +1:52 8Antigoni Drisbioti 1:31:24 +2:12 9Paola Pérez 1:31:26 +2:14 ~~ 10Katarzyna Zdziebło 1:31:29 +2:17 11Érica de Sena 1:31:39 +2:27 ~~ ~ 12Yang Jiayu 1:31:54 +2:42 ~~ ~ 13Nanako Fujii 1:31:55 +2:43 14Raquel González 1:31:57 +2:45 ~ 15Kumiko Okada 1:31:57 +2:45 16Elvira Khasanova 1:31:58 +2:46 ~~ 17Priyanka Goswami 1:32:36 +3:24 ~ 18Valentina Trapletti 1:33:12 +4:00 19Mariia Sakharuk 1:34:04 +4:52 20Ana Cabecinha 1:34:08 +4:56 21Noelia Vargas 1:35:07 +5:55 22Meryem Bekmez 1:35:08 +5:56 23Anastasiya Rarovskaya 1:35:09 +5:57 ~ 24Mary Luz Andía 1:35:25 +6:13 25Sandra Galvis 1:35:36 +6:24 ~~ 26Brigita Virbalytė 1:35:56 +6:44 27Hanna Shevchuk 1:36:27 +7:15 ~~ 28Karla Jaramillo 1:36:32 +7:20 ~ 29Kiriaki Filtisakou 1:36:51 +7:39 30Tereza Ďurdiaková 1:36:58 +7:46 31Anna Terlyukevich 1:37:22 +8:10 ~ 32Bhawna Jat 1:37:38 +8:26 ~ 33Robyn Stevens 1:37:42 +8:30 >~ 34Laura García-Caro 1:37:48 +8:36 ~~ ~ 35Ching Siu Nga 1:37:53 +8:41 > 36Leyde Guerra 1:38:10 +8:58 ~~ 37Katie Hayward 1:38:11 +8:59 ~~ 38Rebecca Henderson 1:38:21 +9:09 ~ 39Ayşe Tekdal 1:38:40 +9:28 40Kaori Kawazoe 1:39:31 +10:19 41Evin Demir 1:39:55 +10:43 42Ayman Ratova 1:40:02 +10:50 43Lyudmyla Olyanovska 1:40:20 +11:08 44Mirna Ortiz 1:40:23 +11:11 45Mária Czaková 1:41:29 +12:17 >~ 46Barbara Kovács 1:41:49 +12:37 47Valeria Ortuño 1:41:50 +12:38 ~~ 48Ángela Castro 1:42:25 +13:13 49Viktoryia Rashchupkina 1:43:33 +14:21 50Mayra Herrera 1:44:30 +15:18 ~~ ~ 51Ilse Guerrero 1:45:47 +16:35 52Eleonora Giorgi 1:46:36 +17:24 ~> 53Panayiota Tsinopoulou 1:47:19 +18:07 > Kimberly García ~ Viktória Madarász Saskia Feige Glenda Morejón Yehualeye Beletew
References