Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 20 kilometres walk

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee could enter up to three qualified athletes if all met the entry standard or qualified by ranking. The qualifying standard was 1:31:00, set to qualify athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the World Rankings pathway. World rankings, based on the average of the best five results weighted by importance of the meet, were used to fill the cap of 60. The qualifying period originally ran from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The most recent Area Championships could be counted even if outside the qualifying period. In July 2020, World Athletics lifted the suspension for road events on 1 September 2020. NOCs could also use a universality place to enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard in an athletics event.