diff --git a/release/build.gradle.kts b/release/build.gradle.kts
index a13ad34b00fc..b97e7592caef 100644
--- a/release/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/release/build.gradle.kts
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ task("runJavaExamplesValidationTask") {
   dependsOn(":runners:direct-java:runQuickstartJavaDirect")
   dependsOn(":runners:google-cloud-dataflow-java:runQuickstartJavaDataflow")
   dependsOn(":runners:spark:3:runQuickstartJavaSpark")
-  dependsOn(":runners:flink:1.19:runQuickstartJavaFlinkLocal")
+  dependsOn(":runners:flink:1.20:runQuickstartJavaFlinkLocal")
   dependsOn(":runners:direct-java:runMobileGamingJavaDirect")
   if (project.hasProperty("ver") || !project.version.toString().endsWith("SNAPSHOT")) {
     // only run one variant of MobileGaming on Dataflow for nightly