Evan Dunfee

Last updated

Evan Dunfee
Evan Dunfee 2021.jpg
Dunfee in 2021
Personal information
NationalityCanadian
Born (1990-09-28) September 28, 1990 (age 33)
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight67 kg (148 lb)
Sport
CountryCanada
Sport Athletics
Event Racewalking

Evan Dunfee (born September 28, 1990) [1] is a Canadian race walker and Olympian. An Olympic and World medallist, Dunfee first set the Canadian record in the 50 kilometres race walk (at 3:41:38) at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he placed fourth. He went on to win bronze medals at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was the last time both of those competitions held the 50 km as an event.

Contents

Career

He competed for his national team in the 50K walk at the 2013 World Championships, finishing in under 4 hours at 3:59:28. He won a bronze medal with his team at the 2013 World University Games where two of the winning Russian race walkers, Denis Strelkov and Andrey Ruzavin have since been suspended for doping violations. Dunfee is the 2012 champion and record holder for the 20 km walk at the NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics. He was the silver medalist at the Athletics at the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie. He has several near misses finishing fourth at the 2009 Pan American Race Walking Cup, the 2013 Pan American Race Walking Cup, 2015 Pan American Race Walking Cup and the 2012 Oceania Race Walking Championships and sixth at the 2010 Commonwealth Games [2] usually very close to teammate and training partner Gomez.

Dunfee grew up and currently lives in Richmond, British Columbia, training up to 50 km a day. [3] He attended Kingswood Elementary and Matthew McNair Secondary School in Richmond, British Columbia. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in kinesiology. [4] Dunfee was a digital contributor to Canadian Running Magazine. [5] His investigative work on illegal doping-related activities by Russian competitors has been quoted by the Associated Press and Inside the Games. [6] [7] [8] Additionally, he is a KidSport ambassador. [9] In 2018, in support of KidSport's 25th anniversary, he raised funds and walked 25 km a day for 25 days. [10]

In July 2016, he was named to Canada's Olympic team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. [11] In the 50-kilometre race walk, Hirooki Arai of Japan initially finished third. He was then disqualified for making contact with Dunfee, but Arai's medal was reinstated after a Japanese appeal led to overturning the disqualification. Dunfee advised the Canadian team against making a further appeal. [12] Dunfee set a new Canadian record in the event. [13] He also competed in the 20-kilometre race walk, placing tenth.

After dealing with injuries, Dunfee took some time out from the sport in 2018 before beginning what he termed a restart with new goals. His work with KidSport to raise money for charity was part of an attempt to give him "a different avenue to chase [his] competitive spirit," and he credited it with reinvigorating him heading into the 2019 season. [14] Competing at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Dunfee won the bronze medal, the second medal for a Canadian in racewalk at the World Championships, and the first in the 50 km. This was the last time the 50 km was contested at the World Championships, a decision Dunfee indicated he disagreed with. He went on to say that his full focus was on preparing for the next Olympics. [15]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were delayed by a year. As in Doha, this was the last time the 50 kilometres race walk was to be a featured event at the Olympics. In the closing metres of the race, Dunfee surged into third place and won the bronze medal, becoming the third-ever Canadian racewalking Olympic medalist and the only one in the 50 km event. He said, "I don't need a medal to validate myself. I'm proud of what I accomplished today, but I have been dreaming of this moment and winning this medal for 21 years. I am over the moon." [16] Dunfee's accomplishment in Tokyo was recognized by the Canadian association of national team athletes with their True Sport Award for the athlete who "exemplifies the highest values of sport, including sportsmanship, perseverance and inclusion" in December 2021. [17]

The transition to the 2022 season was difficult for Dunfee, who struggled with both a hamstring injury and depression relating to World Athletics' decision to retire from the 50 km event in favour of the new 35 km. He said it had "been a mental struggle for me, finding the motivation and mostly related to just coming to terms with the 50K not existing anymore, and that was so much of my identity." [18] In his first major championship appearance in the new event, he finished seventh at the 2022 World Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat. [19] [6] He was sixth at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, which he said he was "thrilled" by in light of his recent difficulties. [20] Later in the summer, Dunfee was named to the Canadian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, competing in the newly-added 10,000 m walk. He won the gold medal in a new national and Commonwealth Games record time of 38:36.37. [21]

Dunfee sought election to the Richmond City Council in the 2022 municipal elections. [22] He finished tenth in balloting, two ordinals back of a place on the council. [23]

At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Dunfee competed in the 20 km walk on the first day of the event, finishing fourth with a Canadian record time 1:18:03. [24] He went on to finish fourth as well in the 35 km walk, having torn his hamstring around 32 kilometres into the race. He said that recovery times would likely preclude his planned participation in the 2023 Pan American Games. [25]

But Dunfee did compete at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. He finished 9th in the 20 km walk in 1:22:14, and afterwards said "The hamstring was a big setback, but ... I went out there and I gave it my best shot." [26]

Personal bests

EventResultVenueDate
Road walk
10 km40:19 min Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Moncton, New Brunswick June 22, 2013
20 km1:18:03 hrs Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest August 19, 2023
35 km2:25:02 hrs Flag of the United States.svg Eugene, Oregon July 24, 2022
50 km3:41:38 hrs Flag of Brazil.svg Rio de Janeiro August 19, 2016
Track walk
5000 m18:39.08 min Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Burnaby, British Columbia June 18, 2021
10,000 m38:36.37 min Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Birmingham, United Kingdom August 7, 2022
20,000 m1:25:15.0 hrs (ht) Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Calgary, Alberta June 25, 2011

Competition record

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
2007 World Youth Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 23rd10,000 m47:40.86
2008 World Junior Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 10th10,000 m 42:56.82
2009 Pan American Race Walking Cup (U20) San Salvador, El Salvador 4th10 km 44:16
Pan American Junior Championships Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 6th10,000 m43:27.04
2010 World Race Walking Cup Chihuahua, México 20 km DNF
Commonwealth Games Delhi, India 6th20 km 1:28:13
2011 Universiade Shenzhen, China 14th20 km 1:29:13
2012 Oceania Race Walking Championships Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 4th20 km1:25:17
World Race Walking Cup Saransk, Russia 20 km DNF
15thTeam (20 km) 180 pts
NACAC U23 Championships Irapuato, México 1st20,000 m 1:26:15.32 A
2013 Pan American Race Walking Cup Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala 4th20 km 1:25:43 A
Universiade Kazan, Russia 21st20 km 1:31:07
3rdTeam (20 km) 4:20:35
World Championships Moscow, Russia 36th50 km 3:59:28
Jeux de la Francophonie Nice, France 2nd20 km 1:25:30
2014 World Race Walking Cup Taicang, China 11th20 km 1:20:13
4thTeam (20 km) 36 pts
2015 Pan American Race Walking Cup Arica, Chile 4th20 km 1:21:54
1stTeam (20 km) 21 pts
World Championships Beijing, China 12th20 km 1:21:48
12th50 km 3:49:56
2016 World Race Walking Team Championships Rome, Italy 16th20 km 1:21:26
2ndTeam (20 km) 28 pts
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10th20 km 1:20:49
4th50 km 3:41:38
2017 World Championships London, England 15th50 km 3:47:36
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 8th20 km 1:23:26
World Race Walking Team Championships Taicang, China 12th50 km3:50:18
NACAC Championships Toronto, Canada 1st20 km 1:25:39
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 3rd50 km 4:05:02
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 3rd50 km 3:50:59
2022 World Race Walking Team Championships Muscat, Oman 7th35 km2:38:08
World Championships Eugene, United States 6th35 km 2:25:02
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, United Kingdom 1st10,000 m 38:36.37
NACAC Championships Freeport, Bahamas 2nd20,000 m 1:27:18
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 4th20 km 1:18:03
4th35 km 2:25:28
Pan American Games Santiago, Chile 9th20 km 1:22:14

: Guest appearance out of competition.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donovan Bailey</span> Jamaican-Canadian sprinter

Donovan Bailey is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to become Olympic champion in 1996. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m. Particularly noted for his top speed, Bailey ran 12.10 m/s in his 1996 Olympic title run, the fastest ever recorded by a human at the time. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 as an individual athlete and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4x100 relay team. In 2005, he was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Deakes</span> Australian race walker

Nathan Deakes is an Australian former race walker. Deakes trained with the Australian Institute of Sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dylan Armstrong</span> Canadian shot putter (born 1981)

Dylan Armstrong is a Canadian athletics coach and retired competitive shot putter. He is the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, a two-time World Athletics Championships medallist, a two-time Pan American Games champion, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in that discipline. He was awarded his Olympic bronze medal in 2015, seven years after the event, following the doping disqualification of competitor Andrei Mikhnevich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jared Tallent</span> Australian race walker

Jared Tallent is an Australian race walker and Olympic gold medallist in the 50 km walk from London in 2012. He is a four-time Olympic medallist, three-time World Championship medallist and holds the current Olympic record in the 50 km walk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liu Hong (racewalker)</span> Chinese racewalker (born 1987)

Liu Hong is a Chinese race walker. She is the world record holder over the Olympic 20 km distance with a time of 1:24:38 hours, set in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Woods</span> Australian racewalker

Claire Woods, also known as Claire Tallent, is an Australian racewalker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan O'Hanlon</span> Australian Paralympic athlete

Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Brown (sprinter)</span> Canadian sprinter (b. 1992)

Aaron Brown is a Canadian sprinter who specializes in the 100 and 200 metres. As part of Canada's 4×100 m relay team, he is the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, 2020 Olympic silver medalist, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and the 2022 World champion. Brown has also won two World bronze medals as part of Canada's 4×100 m relay teams in 2013 and 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Bosworth</span> British race walker

Thomas Stewart Bosworth is a British two-time Olympic race walker who holds three World bests, including the World Best for the 1Mile race walk, 5:31.08.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed Ahmed (runner)</span> Canadian long-distance runner (born 1991)

Mohammed Ahmed is a Canadian long-distance runner. A three-time Olympian, he is his country's most successful athlete in long distance racing, being the first to medal in the 5000 metres at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katerine Savard</span> Canadian swimmer (born 1993)

Katerine Savard is a Canadian competitive swimmer who specializes in women's butterfly events and freestyle relay. She holds several Canadian national records in the butterfly over the 50-, 100-, and 200-metre distances in both the short and long courses. Savard also holds the Canadian junior butterfly record in the 200-metre event. She won the gold medal at the 100-metre butterfly event at the 2013 Summer Universiade, held in Kazan. Savard also won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 100-metre butterfly in Glasgow, where she set the Commonwealth record in the process. At the same games, she won a bronze medal as a member of the women's 4×100-metre medley relay team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caio Bonfim</span> Brazilian racewalker (born 1991)

Caio Oliveira de Sena Bonfim is a Brazilian racewalker. In the 20 km walk, he was a silver medalist at the 2024 Olympic Games and a bronze medalist at the 2017 and 2023 World Championships. He also finished 4th at the 2016 Olympic Games. His mother, Gianetti Bonfim, was also an international racewalker for Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 kilometres walk</span>

The men's 50 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on 19 August. Matej Tóth, winner of the 2015 World Championships from Slovakia won the gold medal, reigning Olympic champion Jared Tallent from Australia finished second and Japanese walker Hirooki Arai took the bronze. The winning time was 3:40:58.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andre De Grasse</span> Canadian sprinter (born 1994)

Andre De Grasse is a Canadian sprinter. A seven-time Olympic medallist, De Grasse is the 2020 Olympic champion in the 200 m, and also won the silver in the 200 m in 2016. He won a second silver in the 4×100 relay in 2020. He also has three Olympic bronze medals, placing third in the 100 m at both the 2016 and 2020 Games, and also in the 4×100 m relay in 2016. De Grasse won his second Olympic gold medal as a part of the 4×100 m relay team at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The win tied him with swimmer Penny Oleksiak as Canada's most decorated Olympians of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brendon Rodney</span> Canadian sprinter (born 1992)

Brendon Rodney is a Canadian sprinter. As a member of the Canadian men's relay team, he is a three-time Olympic medallist in the 4 × 100 metres relay, taking gold in 2024, silver in 2020 and bronze in 2016. He is also the 2022 World champion and 2015 World bronze medallist in the same event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirooki Arai</span> Japanese racewalker (born 1988)

Hirooki Arai is a male Japanese racewalker. He competed in the 50 kilometres walk event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China.

Rebecca Smith is a Canadian swimmer. She represented Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and is a multi-medallist at the World Aquatics Championships, World Swimming Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

Jemima Montag is an Australian Olympic racewalker. She won the silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, won bronze medals in the 20 km walk and the Marathon walk relay in the Paris 2024 Olympics, and is a two-time Commonwealth Games champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camryn Rogers</span> Canadian hammer thrower (born 1999)

Camryn Rogers is a Canadian athlete specializing in the hammer throw. She is the reigning Olympic and World champion in that discipline, in both cases the first Canadian woman to win that title, and only the second Canadian woman to win gold at the World Athletics Championships in any discipline. Her Olympic gold medal was the first for a Canadian woman in track and field in 96 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Canada competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Since Canada's debut in 1900, Canadian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the country's support for the United States-led boycott.

References

  1. Dunfee, Evan, My journey, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved May 18, 2015
  2. Participants / DUNFEE Evan, Commonwealth Games Federation , retrieved May 18, 2015
  3. "Home | Vancouver Sun". vancouversun. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  4. "LinkedIn Profile".
  5. "A walker's perspective: introducing Evan Dunfee". Canadian Running Magazine. November 2, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Gillespie, Kerry (July 21, 2022). "Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee might not be one of the stars on 35, but he won't rule it out". Toronto Star . Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  7. "Another Russian race-walker under scrutiny". Associated Press. January 16, 2015. Archived from the original on January 18, 2015.
  8. "IAAF opens investigation after Russia's Olympic champion racewalker reportedly competes during doping ban". www.insidethegames.biz. January 14, 2015.
  9. "Team Kidsport". Archived from the original on April 24, 2015.
  10. "Dunfee Walks - KidSport x Camp KM". Dunfee Walks.
  11. Hossain, Asif (July 11, 2016). "Athletics Canada nominates largest squad to Team Canada for Rio". Canadian Olympic Committee . Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  12. "Drama at the 50K walk; Canadian Evan Dunfee loses bronze after Japanese protest". thestar.com. August 19, 2016.
  13. "Evan DUNFEE | Profile | World Athletics". www.worldathletics.org.
  14. Thompson, Becky (October 5, 2019). "Race walker Evan Dunfee sets sights on Tokyo after bronze in Doha". Sports Gazette.
  15. Dennehy, Cathal (October 17, 2019). "After digging deep in Doha, Dunfee sets sights on next big targets". World Athletics.
  16. Smart, Zack (August 5, 2021). "Canada's Evan Dunfee storms back to capture bronze in 50km race walk". CBC News . Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  17. "Bujold, Dunfee, Paquin, Heil, women's soccer team honoured at 44th Canadian Sport Awards". AthletesCan. AthletesCan.com. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
  18. Warburton, Paul (March 5, 2022). "Evan Dunfee plans to balance athletic world, potential council duties in future". World Athletics . Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  19. Leung, Valerie (July 23, 2022). "Karlstrom earns first global honours with 35km victory in Muscat". Richmond News. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  20. "Canada's Evan Dunfee finishes 6th in men's 35km race walk at World Athletics Championships". CBC Sports . July 24, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  21. "Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee wins gold at Commonwealth Games with record-setting performance". CBC Sports . August 7, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  22. "Olympic medallist Evan Dunfee running for city council in Richmond, B.C." CBC News . December 7, 2021. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022.
  23. Leung, Valerie (October 15, 2022). "Malcolm Brodie easily wins his eighth term as Richmond mayor". Richmond News. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  24. Harrison, Doug (August 19, 2023). "Evan Dunfee, Ethan Katzberg set Canadian records on Day 1 of athletics worlds". CBC Sports . Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  25. Barnes, Dan (September 1, 2023). "Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee coming to terms with finishing off the podium again". The Toronto Sun . Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  26. Kelsall, Christopher. "Canadian athletes tearing up the track in 2023 Santiago Pan American Games". Athletics Illustrated. Retrieved November 6, 2023.