The 1981 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 3 and 4 October 1981 in the streets of Valencia, Spain.
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's 20 km walk | Ernesto Canto Mexico |
1:23:52 | Roland Wieser East Germany |
1:24:12 | Alessandro Pezzatini Italy |
1:24:24 |
| Men's 50 km walk | Raúl González Mexico |
3:48:30 | Hartwig Gauder East Germany |
3:52:18 | Sandro Bellucci Italy |
3:54:57 |
| Women's 5 km walk | Siv Gustavsson Sweden |
22:56.9 | Aleksandra Derevinskaya Soviet Union |
23:17.2 | Lyudmila Khrushchova Soviet Union |
23:25.4 |
Shown below are the top 20 finishers in each of the events.
| Place | Athlete | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ernesto Canto MEX | 1:23:52 | |
| 2 | Roland Wieser GDR | 1:24:12 | |
| 3 | Alessandro Pezzatini ITA | 1:24:24 | |
| 4 | Yevgeniy Yevsyukov URS | 1:24:51 | |
| 5 | José Marín ESP | 1:25:00 | |
| 6 | Maurizio Damilano ITA | 1:25:08 | |
| 7 | Anatoliy Solomin URS | 1:26:39 | |
| 8 | Pyotr Pochenchuk URS | 1:27:03 | |
| 9 | Bo Gustafsson SWE | 1:27:28 | |
| 10 | Guillaume LeBlanc CAN | 1:28:02 | |
| 11 | Pavol Blažek TCH | 1:28:12 | |
| 12 | Stefan Petrik TCH | 1:28:20 | |
| 13 | Carlo Mattioli ITA | 1:28:52 | |
| 14 | Ralf Meisel GDR | 1:29:24 | |
| 15 | Stanisław Rola POL | 1:29:37 | |
| 16 | Wang Chuntang CHN | 1:29:45 | |
| 17 | Steve Barry GBR | 1:29:56 | |
| 18 | Erling Andersen NOR | 1:30:03 | |
| 19 | Ian McCombie GBR | 1:30:03 | |
| 20 | Eduardo Linares MEX | 1:30:05 |
| Place | Athlete | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raúl González MEX | 3:48:30 | |
| 2 | Hartwig Gauder GDR | 3:52:18 | |
| 3 | Sandro Bellucci ITA | 3:54:57 | |
| 4 | Dietmar Meisch GDR | 3:56:27 | |
| 5 | Arturo Bravo MEX | 3:58:04 | |
| 6 | Martín Bermúdez MEX | 3:58:16 | |
| 7 | Valeriy Suntsov URS | 4:01:30 | |
| 8 | Uwe Dünkel GDR | 4:02:04 | |
| 9 | Gérard Lelièvre FRA | 4:03:06 | |
| 10 | Giacomo Poggi ITA | 4:03:15 | |
| 11 | Viktor Dorovskikh URS | 4:03:51 | |
| 12 | Viktor Grodenchuk URS | 4:07:16 | |
| 13 | Marco Evoniuk USA | 4:07:44 | |
| 14 | Domenico Carpentieri ITA | 4:13:19 | |
| 15 | Bohdan Bułakowski POL | 4:15:34 | |
| 16 | Pavol Jati TCH | 4:17:06 | |
| 17 | Lubos Mackanic TCH | 4:17:11 | |
| 18 | Bengt Simonson SWE | 4:17:57 | |
| 19 | Paolo Gregucci ITA | 4:18:56 | |
| 20 | Ian Richards GBR | 4:21:04 |
| Place | Athlete | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Siv Gustavsson SWE | 22:56.9 | |
| 2 | Aleksandra Derevinskaya URS | 23:17.2 | |
| 3 | Lyudmila Khrushchova URS | 23:25.4 | |
| 4 | Fröydis Hilsen NOR | 23:34.4 | |
| 5 | Ann Jansson SWE | 23:42.2 | |
| 6 | Sally Pierson AUS | 23:51.3 | |
| 7 | Sue Cook AUS | 24:04.9 | |
| 8 | Ann Peel CAN | 24:05.9 | |
| 9 | Susan Liers-Westerfield USA | 24:15.8 | |
| 10 | Natalya Sharipova URS | 24:20.7 | |
| 11 | Ann-Marie Larsson SWE | 24:31.0 | |
| 12 | Suzanne Griesbach FRA | 24:35.6 | |
| 13 | Irene Bateman GBR | 24:40.0 | |
| 14 | Margot Vetterli SUI | 24:43.9 | |
| 15 | Lillian Millen GBR | 24:47.4 | |
| 16 | Olga Tshgunova URS | 24:53.2 | |
| 17 | Britt Holmqvist SWE | 25:03.5 | |
| 18 | Jill Barrett GBR | 25:05.1 | |
| 19 | Carol Tyson GBR | 25:10.9 | |
| 20 | Ann Ryan AUS | 25:14.2 |
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