
Progression of Official World Record
Men, 20,000m
| Result | Name | Country | DOB | Comp | Date | Age | Record life | |
| 56:20.02 | Bashir Abdi | BEL | 10 Feb 1989 | VD | Bruxelles | 4 Sep 2020 | exactly | exactly |
| 0:56:25.98 | Haile Gebrselassie | ETH | 18 Apr 1973 | GSpike | Ostrava | 27 Jun 2007 | exactly | exactly |
| 0:56:55.6h | Arturo Barrios | MEX | 12 Dec 1963 | La Flèche | 30 Mar 1991 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:57:18.4h | Dionísio Castro | POR | 22 Nov 1963 | La Flèche | 31 Mar 1990 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:57:24.19 | Jos Hermens | NED | 8 Jan 1950 | Arnhem | 1 May 1976 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:57:31.8h | Jos Hermens | NED | 8 Jan 1950 | Arnhem | 28 Sep 1975 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:57:44.4h | Gaston Roelants | BEL | 5 Feb 1937 | Bruxelles | 20 Sep 1972 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:58:06.2h | Gaston Roelants | BEL | 5 Feb 1937 | Louvain | 28 Oct 1966 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:59:22.8h | Ron Clarke | AUS | 21 Feb 1937 | Geelong | 27 Oct 1965 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:59:28.6h | Bill Baillie | NZL | 28 May 1934 | Auckland | 24 Aug 1963 | exactly | exactly | |
| 0:59:52.8h | Emil Zátopek | CZE | 19 Sep 1922 | Stará Boleslav | 29 Sep 1951 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:01:16.0h | Emil Zátopek | CZE | 19 Sep 1922 | Praha | 25 Sep 1951 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:02:40.0h | Viljo Heino | FIN | 1 Mar 1914 | Turku | 22 Sep 1949 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:03:01.2h | András Csaplár | HUN | 16 Nov 1912 | Budapest | 26 Oct 1941 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:04:00.2h | Juan Zabala | ARG | 11 Oct 1911 | München | 19 Apr 1936 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:04:38.4h | Paavo Nurmi | FIN | 13 Jun 1897 | Stockholm | 3 Sep 1930 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:06:29.0h | Väinö Sipilä | FIN | 24 Dec 1897 | Stockholm | 19 Jun 1925 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:07:07.2h | Ville Kyrönen | FIN | 14 Jan 1891 | Hamina | 31 Aug 1924 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:07:11.2h | Albin Stenroos | FIN | 24 Feb 1889 | Helsinki | 9 Sep 1923 | exactly | exactly | |
| 1:07:40.2h | Hannes Kolehmainen | FIN | 9 Dec 1889 | Helsinki | 18 May 1913 | exactly | exactly |