| Event: | Men's 20 kilometres walk |
| Competition: | 2015 World Championships |
| Venue: | Beijing National Stadium |
| Dates: | 23 August |
| Competitors: | 61 |
| Nations: | 33 |
| Win Value: | 1:19:14 |
| Gold: | Miguel Ángel López |
| Goldnoc: | ESP |
| Silver: | Wang Zhen |
| Silvernoc: | CHN |
| Bronze: | Benjamin Thorne |
| Bronzenoc: | CAN |
| Prev: | 2013 |
| Next: | 2017 |
The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 23 August.[1] [2]
From the gun, the three Chinese athletes made it clear they were going to make an effort to take this home race. The effort almost worked, as the group ultimately led by Olympic bronze medalist Wang Zhen held the lead until the bell. At almost that moment, returning bronze medalist Miguel Ángel López had finally worked his way back to the lead. The strain of leading showed on Wang's face as Lopez cruised past. Lopez built upon that lead for the final lap and route back into the stadium. Canadian Benjamin Thorne set the Canadian record on his way to the bronze medal in a national record time.
A deeper story might be in who was not here. After years of the Viktor Chegin drug related cheating scandal, no Russian athlete entered the race, ending their dominance of world podiums. Recent world record setting Yusuke Suzuki also dropped out near the half way mark with a hip injury. Andrés Chocho was making an effort to challenge the leaders late into the race, but instead was invited to leave the course with a red paddle.[3]
Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:[4]
| World record | 1:16:36 | Nomi, Japan | 15 March 2015 | ||
| Championship record | 1:17:21 | Saint-Denis, France | 23 August 2003 | ||
| World Leading | 1:16:36 | Nomi, Japan | 15 March 2015 | ||
| African record | 1:19:02 | Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany | 10 May 1997 | ||
| Asian record | 1:16:36 | Nomi, Japan | 15 March 2015 | ||
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | 1:17:46 | Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany | 8 May 1999 | ||
| South American record | 1:17:21 | Saint-Denis, France | 23 August 2003 | ||
| European record | 1:17:02 | Arles, France | 8 March 2015 | ||
| Oceanian record | 1:17:33 | Cixi, China | 23 April 2005 |
The race was started at 08:30.[5]
| KEY: | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:19:14 | |||||
| 1:19:29 | |||||
| 1:19:57 | |||||
| 1:20:29 | |||||
| 1:20:42 | |||||
| 1:20:44 | |||||
| 1:21:13 | |||||
| 1:21:37 | |||||
| 1:21:39 | |||||
| 10 | 1:21:40 | ||||
| 11 | 1:21:43 | ||||
| 12 | 1:21:48 | ||||
| 13 | 1:21:51 | ||||
| 14 | 1:21:55 | ||||
| 15 | 1:21:56 | ||||
| 16 | 1:22:04 | ||||
| 17 | 1:22:18 | ||||
| 18 | 1:22:29 | ||||
| 19 | 1:22:53 | ||||
| 20 | 1:23:23 | ||||
| 21 | 1:23:37 | ||||
| 22 | 1:23:53 | ||||
| 23 | 1:23:54 | ||||
| 24 | 1:23:58 | ||||
| 25 | 1:24:11 | ||||
| 26 | 1:24:19 | ||||
| 27 | 1:24:33 | ||||
| 28 | 1:24:40 | ||||
| 29 | 1:24:52 | ||||
| 30 | 1:24:58 | ||||
| 31 | 1:24:58 | ||||
| 32 | 1:25:15 | ||||
| 33 | 1:25:16 | ||||
| 34 | 1:25:21 | ||||
| 35 | 1:25:22 | ||||
| 36 | 1:25:49 | ||||
| 37 | 1:25:50 | ||||
| 38 | 1:26:10 | ||||
| 39 | 1:26:32 | ||||
| 40 | 1:26:34 | ||||
| 41 | 1:26:40 | ||||
| 42 | 1:27:10 | ||||
| 43 | 1:27:15 | ||||
| 44 | 1:27:46 | ||||
| 45 | 1:28:01 | ||||
| 46 | 1:28:18 | ||||
| 47 | 1:28:30 | ||||
| 48 | 1:29:01 | ||||
| 49 | 1:29:12 | ||||
| 50 | 1:29:31 | ||||