| Event: | Men's 20 kilometres walk |
| Competition: | 2023 World Championships |
| Venue: | National Athletics Centre |
| Dates: | 19 August |
| Competitors: | 50 |
| Nations: | 28 |
| Win Value: | 1:17:32 |
| Gold: | Álvaro Martín |
| Goldnoc: | ESP |
| Silver: | Perseus Karlström |
| Silvernoc: | SWE |
| Bronze: | Caio Bonfim |
| Bronzenoc: | BRA |
| Prev: | 2022 |
| Next: | 2025 |
The men's 20 kilometres walk at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on 19 August 2023.[1]
The skies over Budapest unloaded on the first event at these Championships drenching the 1 kilometer course just before race time. With tight turns, several athletes slipped and fell trying to compete at high speed.
From the gun, returning silver medalist Koki Ikeda went to the front, creating a gap over a pack led by Salih Korkmaz and two time defending champion Toshikazu Yamanishi. On the fifth lap, Ikeda dropped a 3:49 to open up an 8 second lead. By the half way point he had expanded that gap to 15 seconds. From that commanding lead, Ikeda began to show signs of weakness. Lap times in the low 3:50's became high 3:50's while the chase group was picking up speed. On the 15th lap, Álvaro Martín put the hammer down, dropping a 3:43 lap and pulling next to Ikeda. Martín followed that with a 3:48 crushing Ikeda's enthusiasm. Caio Bonfim, Perseus Karlström and Evan Dunfee were the next to pass Ikeda and set off in chase of Martín. Over the next three laps, Martín opened up 13 seconds over his chasers. He was able to celebrate on the final lap while Karlström was doing a 3:48 behind him to separate from Bonfim and capture silver.
Before the competition records were as follows:[2]
| width=25% align=center | Record | width=25% align=center | Athlete & | width=10% align=center | width=25% align=center | Location | width=15% align=center | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World record | 1:16:36 | Nomi, Japan | 15 March 2015 | ||||||
| Championship record | 1:17:21 | Saint-Denis, France | 23 August 2003 | ||||||
| World Leading | 1:17:47 | Taicang, China | 8 April 2023 | ||||||
| African Record | 1:18:23 | Nairobi, Kenya | 18 June 2021 | ||||||
| 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 following records were set at the competition:
The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 1:20:100.[3]
The event schedule, in local time (CEST), was as follows:[4]
The race was started on 19 August at 10:50.[5]
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:17:32 | ||||
| 1:17:39 | ||||
| 1:17:47 | ||||
| 4 | 1:18:03 | |||
| 5 | 1:18:12 | |||
| 6 | 1:18:22 | |||
| 7 | 1:18:26 | |||
| 8 | 1:18:30 | |||
| 9 | 1:18:34 | |||
| 10 | 1:18:59 | |||
| 11 | 1:19:01 | |||
| 12 | 1:19:02 | |||
| 13 | 1:19:28 | |||
| 14 | 1:19:31 | |||
| 15 | 1:19:44 | |||
| 16 | 1:19:49 | |||
| 17 | 1:19:52 | |||
| 18 | 1:19:55 | |||
| 19 | 1:20:07 | |||
| 20 | 1:20:08 | |||
| 21 | 1:20:25 | |||
| 22 | 1:20:56 | |||
| 23 | 1:21:16 | |||
| 24 | 1:21:39 | |||
| 25 | 1:21:51 | |||
| 26 | 1:21:55 | |||
| 27 | 1:21:58 | |||
| 28 | 1:22:28 | |||
| 29 | 1:23:13 | |||
| 30 | 1:23:28 | |||
| 31 | 1:23:33 | |||
| 32 | 1:23:35 | |||
| 33 | 1:23:37 | |||
| 34 | 1:23:42 | |||
| 35 | 1:24:02 | |||
| 36 | 1:24:10 | |||
| 37 | 1:24:23 | |||
| 38 | 1:24:26 | |||
| 39 | 1:25:12 | |||
| 40 | 1:26:02 | |||
| 41 | 1:26:21 | |||
| 42 | 1:26:29 | |||
| 43 | 1:26:54 | |||
| 44 | 1:27:26 | |||
| 45 | 1:27:29 | |||
| 46 | 1:27:47 | |||
| 47 | Akashdeep Singh | 1:31:12 | ||