Like every year at this time of the season we are going to publish annual rankings of individual race walking events.
This year we do not limit ourselves to only one result for each athlete, but will indicate all the lower performance achieved to a limit we have identified which should be the one that characterized the annual elite.
For the 20km men's category this limit was detected in 1:20:30.
Thirty-two were athletes who have obtained in the course of 2016 times less than this limit, while ever the resulting performances were 48.
The nations that have a greater number of performances are Japan and China with 10 performances each, followed by Mexico with 5 performances.
Very interesting is to note that the races in which they had had the highest number of performances were in the order:
- Rome (ITA): IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships with 8 performances
- Rio de Janeiro (BRA): Olympic Games with 8 performarces
- Nomi (JPN): Asian 20km Road Walk Championships with 8 performances
- Podebrady (CZE): European Athletics Race Walking Permit Meeting with 8 performances
- Kobe (JPN): Japan 20km Road Walk Championships iwith 5 performances.
Equally interesting it is to note that the IAAF actually includes in the ranking also the time of 1:20:23 (which would increase to 49 the performances) obtained from Alex Schwazer in La Coruna on May 28, 2016 albeit with the note that has been achieved in a period of ineligibility as per Rule 32.2 (a). We recall that the CAS had disqualified all the results obtained by Alex Schwazer after January 1, 2016 (in practice the one of Roma on 50km and the one of La Coruna on 20km).
Finally, the IAAF also indicates the times obtained by the athletes of Russia during the period of suspension of the All Russia Athletics Federation. There are in particular 13 performances but should not influence our ranking, as the best result to be achieved is 1:22:06 by Petr Trofimov with his victory at the Russian Winter Championships in Sochi on February 27, 2016.
Below is the list of the 48 performances which is also published in the Statistics section.
| Rank | Mark | Competitor | Nation | Venue | Date |
| | | | | | |
| 1 | 1:18:26 | Eiki TAKAHASHI | JPN | Kobe | 21.02.2016 |
| 2 | 1:18:45 | Isamu FUJISAWA | JPN | Kobe | 21.02.2016 |
| 3 | 1:18:53 | Daisuke MATSUNAGA | JPN | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| 4 | 1:19:11 | Perseus KARLSTRÖM | SWE | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| 5 | 1:19:12 | Zhen WANG | CHN | Huangshan | 05.03.2016 |
| | 1:19:14 | Zhen WANG | CHN | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| 6 | 1:19:19 | Christopher LINKE | GER | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| 7 | 1:19:20 | Iñaki GÓMEZ | CAN | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| 7 | 1:19:20 | Omar PINEDA | MEX | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| 7 | 1:19:20 | Jesus Tadeo VEGA | MEX | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| | 1:19:22 | Zhen WANG | CHN | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 10 | 1:19:24 | Samuel Ireri GATHIMBA | KEN | Durban | 20.06.2016 |
| 11 | 1:19:26 | Zelin CAI | CHN | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| 12 | 1:19:32 | Ding CHEN | CHN | Huangshan | 05.03.2016 |
| | 1:19:34 | Zelin CAI | CHN | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 13 | 1:19:36 | Álvaro MARTÍN | ESP | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 14 | 1:19:37 | Dane BIRD-SMITH | AUS | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| 15 | 1:19:38 | Ever PALMA | MEX | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| | 1:19:38 | Dane BIRD-SMITH | AUS | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 16 | 1:19:42 | Caio BONFIM | BRA | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| 17 | 1:19:44 | Takumi SAITO | JPN | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| | 1:19:48 | Zelin CAI | CHN | Huangshan | 05.03.2016 |
| 18 | 1:19:51 | Kaihua WANG | CHN | Huangshan | 05.03.2016 |
| 19 | 1:19:54 | Hirooki ARAI | JPN | Kobe | 21.02.2016 |
| 20 | 1:19:55 | Benjamin THORNE | CAN | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 21 | 1:19:57 | Kai KOBAYASHI | JPN | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| 22 | 1:19:58 | Hagen POHLE | GER | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| | 1:20:00 | Christopher LINKE | GER | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| | 1:20:04 | Dane BIRD-SMITH | AUS | Adelaide | 21.02.2016 |
| 23 | 1:20:05 | Pedro Daniel GÓMEZ | MEX | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| 24 | 1:20:06 | Lebogang SHANGE | RSA | Adelaide | 21.02.2016 |
| 25 | 1:20:07 | Andrés CHOCHO | ECU | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| | 1:20:08 | Benjamin THORNE | CAN | Adelaide | 21.02.2016 |
| | 1:20:12 | Iñaki GÓMEZ | CAN | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 26 | 1:20:13 | Tom BOSWORTH | GBR | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| | 1:20:14 | Takumi SAITO | JPN | Kobe | 21.02.2016 |
| 27 | 1:20:14 | Satoshi MARUO | JPN | Kobe | 21.02.2016 |
| | 1:20:17 | Zhen WANG | CHN | La Coruna | 28.05.2016 |
| | 1:20.20 | Caio BONFIM | BRA | Roma | 07.05.2016 |
| 28 | 1:20:21 | Singh DEVENDER | IND | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| | 1:20:22 | Iñaki GÓMEZ | CAN | Adelaide | 21.02.2016 |
| | 1:20:22 | Satoshi MARUO | JPN | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| | 1:20:22 | Daisuke MATSUNAGA | JPN | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| 29 | 1:20:24 | Julio César SALAZAR | MEX | Podebrady | 09.04.2016 |
| 30 | 1:20:26 | Manish SINGH | IND | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| | 1:20:26 | Kaihua WANG | CHN | Huhehaote | 08.09.2016 |
| 31 | 1:20:27 | Matteo GIUPPONI | ITA | Rio de Janeiro | 12.08.2016 |
| 32 | 1:20.29 | Gurmeet SINGH | IND | Nomi | 20.03.2016 |
| | 48 | | | | |
The link to the page of statistics 2016: click here
Eiki Takahashi in Kobe (Photo by Getty Images)