The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on 19 August.

Matej Tóth, winner of the 2015 World Championships from Slovakia won the gold medal, reigning Olympic champion Jared Tallent from Australia finished second and Japanese walker Hirooki Arai took the bronze.

[1] Off the start line, Vladimir Savanović went for the lead putting an immediate gap on the field and getting four minutes of worldwide television time.

Before the first kilometre was over, world record holder Yohann Diniz lost his tolerance for the breakaway and went after Savanović, quickly bridging the gap.

The lead pack at 5K, already 29 seconds behind Diniz, consisted of Matej Tóth, Jared Tallent Evan Dunfee, Robert Heffernan, Andres Chocho, Horacio Nava, Yu Wei, Takayuki Tanii and Matteo Giupponi.

The back began to string out behind with Toth trying to cover the move, Tallent leading Heffernan, Arai, Yu and Chocho as the others remaining in contact.

Within 30 seconds, Diniz was back on his feet racing, now well behind the pack of four (Toth, Tallent, Arai and Yu) and even the straggler Heffernan.

During the next kilometre, Tallent was the next to attack, Arai tried to cover the move for a short distance but fell back to the pack.

During the last half of the penultimate lap, Toth noticeably began to gain on Tallent, passing him just before the bell and pulling away.

19 seconds after Diniz, Caio Bonfim crossed the line to a big cheer setting the new Brazilian record.