Canada's Dunfee finishes fifth in 20KM racewalk

PARIS — Evan Dunfee left it all at the finish line.

The Richmond, B.C., athlete speedwalked his way to fifth place in the 20-kilometre men's race walk on the opening day of athletics on Thursday at the Paris Olympics, falling short of the historic bronze-medal performance he achieved in Tokyo.

After the race, a visibly exhausted Dunfee congratulated his fellow athletes before sinking into a crouch in a corner, pouring sweat and taking deep breaths. As he leaned on a metal barricade for support, he told reporters he'd given it his all. “I just kept telling myself, 'just leave nothing out there,'" he said. "Make sure you cross that finish line proud of yourself, and I did that. I did that. I can't ask for anything more than that."

Dunfee finished the race in a time of 1:19:16, 21 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Brian Daniel Pintado of Ecuador.

Pintado won in a time of 1:18:55, followed by Caio Bonfim of Brazil and Alvaro Martin of Spain.

The starting gun went off at 8 a.m. local time, sending the athletes out on a course that wound through the streets near the Trocadero, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Entering the race’s final five kilometres, Dunfee found himself out of the top 10, though only seconds off the leaders. In the last kilometres he found another gear, passing one athlete after another until he fought his way to fifth, where he remained.

Dunfee was trying to capture his second Olympic medal to follow up the bronze he won in the 50-kilometre event at the Tokyo 2020 games. That bronze was Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in the longest athletics event, which is no longer on the program.

However, Dunfee had a number of setbacks leading into his third Olympics, including injuries and having to reorient his training for the much shorter 20-kilometre event, which he admits he struggled with.

Last week, he had a bout of gastro that caused "eight hours of extreme vomiting," he said, leaving him a little less than 100 per cent coming into the race.

On Thursday, however, he made no excuses.

"I'm really proud of the effort," he said. "I missed just that little tiny bit to go with it when the pace changed, and yeah, four guys were better than me today."

Fifth, he added, "is pretty damn good."

The race walk on Thursday was the first event of the Paris athletics calendar, and an enthusiastic crowd was on hand lining the barricades to cheer on the athletes, despite early rainshowers.

Dunfee pointed to the loud atmosphere, pushing back against those who might feel race walk is a lesser athletics event. Spectators, he pointed out, can get right close to the athletes and "feel what they're going through, literally get their sweat on you."

"The athletes out here, all 50 of them, are so damn inspiring," Dunfee said.

Next up in Paris, Dunfee will switch to coach mode as he competes alongside his student and fellow B.C. athlete Olivia Lundman in the mixed race walk event that's replacing the dropped men's 50-kilometre.

He admitted that they've only done the event together once. His main goal, he said, is to help Lundman experience an Olympics competition and get a taste of racing in front of big crowds to hopefully get her "hungry" for Los Angeles in 2028.

Dunfee said he's also looking forward to competing in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next year.

But he's also started reflecting on his own journey in sport, which he said has "given me so damn much."

"I'm the person I am today because of sport," he said. "It's taught me everything I know, given me incredible lessons, taught me incredible skills.

"I just feel so damn privileged to get to do this and to represent Richmond and Canada, and get to show the power that sport has. It's really special."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2024.