20km Track Walk
First under 1:35: 1:34:26.0 Janis Dalins LAT 1933
First under 1:30: 1:28:45.2 Leonid Spirin URS 1956
First under 1:25: 1:24:45.0 Bernd Kannenberg FRG 1974
First under 1:20: 1:18:40.0 Ernesto Canto MEX 1984

Subsequent record progression:
1:18:35.2 Stefan Johansson SWE 1992
1:17:25.6 Bernardo Segura MEX 1994

Most durable world record:
1:32:28.4 John Mikaelsson SWE 1942 (11 years)
50km Track Walk
First under 4:30: 4:29:58.0 John Ljunggren SWE 1953
First under 4:00: 3:56:51.4 Bernd Kannenberg FRG 1975
First under 3:50: 3:41:38.4 Raúl González MEX 1979

Current world record: 3:40:57.9 Thierry Toutain FRA 1996
Current world best (road): 3:37:26 Valeriy Spitsyn RUS 2000

Most durable world record:
4:34:03 Paul Sievert GER 1924 (26 years)
 

Superlatives 20 Km Walk
Most Olympic titles:
2 Ugo Frigerio ITA (10,000m) 1920/1924, John Mikaelsson SWE (10,000m) 1948/1952 & Volodomir Golubnichiy URS 1960/1968
Most World titles: 2 Maurizio Damilano ITA 1987/1991

Youngest Olympic/World champion: Michele Didoni ITA 1995 (21) Oldest: Mikaelsson 1952 (38)
 

Superlatives 50 Km Walk
Most Olympic titles:
1 by 14 men; gold/silver by John Ljunggren SWE 1948/1960
Most World titles: 1 by 7 men; gold/silver by Ronald Weigel GDR 1983/1987 & Valentin Kononen FIN 1995/1993

Youngest Olympic/World champion: Jesus Garcia ESP 1993 (23) Oldest: Tommy Green GBR 1932 (38)
 

Three all-time greats
John Mikaelsson (SWE): A world record breaker at several distances between 3000m and 20km from 1936 to 1945, he won the Olympic 10,000m track title in 1948 and 1952.
Volodomir Golubnichiy (URS): Between 1955 and 1958 he improved the world 20km track record by over three minutes and went on to win Olympic gold in 1960 and 1968 as well as taking silver in 1972 and bronze in 1964.
Raúl González (MEX): He revolutionised performance levels at 50km in 1978/1979, cutting 15 minutes from Bernd Kannenberg's world track record and setting an even faster world road best of 3:41:20 before taking the 1984 Olympic title by nearly six minutes.


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