The men's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 1 August 2024.

Returning silver medalist Koki Ikeda made himself the favorite by walking within 15 seconds of countrymate Yusuke Suzuki's nine-year-old world record at the Japanese National Championships in February.

Returning champion Massimo Stano had technically the third fastest time of the year, losing on the finish line to Zhang Jun a few weeks later.

But the form chart was upset in May when returning bronze medalist Toshikazu Yamanishi, who did not even make the Japanese team, led double reigning World Champion Álvaro Martín, Caio Bonfim and Brian Pintado to beat both Ikeda and Zhang at the Gran Premio Cantones de A Coruña de Marcha in Spain.

Martín was never able to recover those steps conceding silver to pick up the Spanish flag as he crossed the finish line.