Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 10 kilometres walk

The men's 10 kilometres walk event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, August 17, 1920, and on Wednesday, August 18, 1920. Twenty-three race walkers from 13 nations competed.^[1]

Men's 10 kilometres walk at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Olympisch Stadion
Dates	August 17–18, 1920
Competitors	23 from 13 nations
Medalists
Ugo Frigerio  Italy Joseph Pearman  United States Charles Gunn  Great Britain
← 1912 1924 →

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World record	Gunnar Rasmussen (DEN)[2]	45:26.4	Denmark	18 August 1918	[3]
Olympic record	George Goulding (CAN)	46:28.4	Stockholm (SWE)	11 August 1912

Results

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on Tuesday, August 17, 1920.

Semifinal 1

This heat was one lap short, so the distance of this race was only 9600 metres.

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ugo Frigerio (ITA)	47:06.4	Q
2	Joseph Pearman (USA)	47:30.0	Q
3	George Parker (AUS)	47:31.0	Q
4	Donato Pavesi (ITA)	48:12.0	Q
5	Charles Gunn (GBR)	48:22.0	Q
6	Jean Seghers (BEL)	48:29.0	Q
7	Winfred Rolker (USA)
—	Josef Šlehofer (TCH)	DNF
	Charles Dowson (GBR)	DNF
	Paul Verlaeckt (BEL)	DQ
	Eduard Hermann (EST)	DQ
	Martial Simon (FRA)	DQ
	Gunnar Rasmussen (DEN)	DQ

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	William Hehir (GBR)	51:33.8	Q
2	Cecil McMaster (RSA)	51:39.0	Q
3	Thomas Maroney (USA)	(51:54.6)	Q
4	William Plant (USA)	(52:18.3)	Q
5	Luis Meléndez (ESP)	(53:56.6)	Q
6	Antoine Doyen (BEL)		Q
—	Stanislas Anselmetti (SUI)	DNF
	Charles Wiggers (BEL)	DQ
	Niels Pedersen (DEN)	DQ
	Eversleigh Freeman (CAN)	DQ

Final

The final was held on Wednesday, August 18, 1920.

Before the race started Frigerio handed the conductor of the mid-field band several sheets of music, which he requested to be played during the race. He won so easily that he stopped once to show the band the correct tempo...^[4]

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Ugo Frigerio (ITA)	48:06.2
2	Joseph Pearman (USA)	(49:40.2)
3	Charles Gunn (GBR)	(49:43.9)
4	Cecil McMaster (RSA)	(50:04.0)
5	William Hehir (GBR)	(50:11.8)
6	Thomas Maroney (USA)	(50:24.4)
7	Jean Seghers (BEL)	(50:32.4)
8	Antoine Doyen (BEL)	(56:30.0)
—	Luis Meléndez (ESP)	DNF
	George Parker (AUS)	DQ
	Donato Pavesi (ITA)	DQ
	William Plant (USA)	DNS