| Event: | Men's 20 kilometres walk |
| Competition: | European Athletics Championships |
The men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, on 10 August 1971.
| Gold | Nikolay Smaga | |
| Silver | Gerhard Sperling | |
| Bronze | Paul Nihill |
10 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | align=left | 1:27:20.2 | |||||
| align=left | align=left | 1:27:29.0 | |||||
| align=left | align=left | | 1:27:34.8 | ||||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 1:27:52.8 | ||||
| 5 | align=left | align=left | 1:28:56.8 | ||||
| 6 | align=left | align=left | | 1:29:31.6 | |||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | 1:29:49.4 | ||||
| 8 | align=left | align=left | 1:31:32.2 | ||||
| 9 | align=left | align=left | 1:32:06.4 | ||||
| 10 | align=left | align=left |  | 1:32:44.2 | |||
| 11 | align=left | align=left |  | 1:33:15.4 | |||
| 12 | align=left | align=left |  | 1:33:54.6 | |||
| 13 | align=left | align=left | | 1:34:15.0 | |||
| 14 | align=left | align=left | | 1:35:09.6 | |||
| 15 | align=left | align=left | | 1:35:24.2 | |||
| 16 | align=left | align=left |  | 1:35:28.2 | |||
| 17 | align=left | align=left |  | 1:35:33.4 | |||
| 18 | align=left | align=left |  | 1:36:17.2 | |||
| 19 | align=left | align=left | | 1:36:54.8 | |||
| 20 | align=left | align=left | 1:37:39.4 | ||||
| 21 | align=left | align=left | | 1:39:14.8 | |||
| 22 | align=left | align=left | | 1:40:28.6 |
According to an unofficial count, 22 athletes from 10 countries participated in the event.
(3) (1) (1) (3) (1) (2) (3)