The XII and XIII century tradition of the English "footmen", who alternated running and walking as they accompanied their masters' coaches on long trips, inspired the walking competitions which were first held between 1775 and 1800 in England. These contests were over six days, 24 hours, etc.

In 1866 a 7 mile track walking race was introduced to the English Championships. In 1908 walking entered the Olympic Games in London with a 3500m and a 10 mile race. Those events were replaced in 1912 by one race at 10,000m. Two races were present again in the 1920 Games: 3000m and 10,000m.

In 1924 only the 10,000m race was retained but, in view of the large number of irregularities encountered, walking was eliminated altogether from the 1928 Games. Olympic walking was re-introduced in 1932 over 50km on the road with the 10,000m track walk also reinstated for 1948 and 1952. The standard Olympic road walking distances of 20km and 50km have been contested at each Olympics since 1956, except the 50km was dropped just for the 1976 Games.

Women's race walking contests were first recorded in Czechoslovakia in 1932.10km road competitions were part of the IAAF World Championships for the first time in 1987 and the Olympic Games in 1992. The distance was extended to 20km from the 1999 World Championships.