2011 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk

Events at the 2011 World Championships
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men	women
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
This box:

The Women's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held on a loop course starting and finishing at Gukchae - bosang Memorial Park on August 31.

Olga Kaniskina of Russia looked to continue a series of major victories which had seen her win consecutive world titles (2007, 2009), the 2008 Olympic title and a gold medal at the 2010 European Championships. Two other Russians, Vera Sokolova and Anisya Kirdyapkina, had walked the two fastest times ever for the distance that February and comprised her primary opposition. Outside of the Russians, 2009 medallists Olive Loughnane and Liu Hong were the other major medal contenders. Other entrants were Qieyang Shenjie, Li Yanfei, Beatriz Pascual, Kumi Otoshi and Vera Santos – all of whom were among the fastest walkers that year.