Evan Dunfee is officially headed to Australia in April for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The Richmond race walker was among 46 athletes nominated by Athletics Canada on Wednesday. The Games will take in Gold Coast from April 4-15.
Dunfee, 27, is slated to compete in the 20 km race walk. He won gold in the same event at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. It was the 50 km distance that produced his memorable fourth place finish at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
Dunfee will be joined by Race Walk West training mate Ben Thorne of Kitimat. Both are coached by Gerry Dragomir.
The Canadian team, comprised of 20 women and 26 men, will be focused on contributing to the overall Canadian medal count and bettering its total of 17 podium finishes (five gold, two silver and 10 bronze) from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“Athletics Canada has put together a strong and talented team that features a number of Commonwealth Games veterans and athletes who have taken great strides in our NextGen Program,” said head coach Glenroy Gilbert. “We are going to the Gold Coast to compete and to compete well. It’s an early start to the season for Canadian athletes, but we are going down there to do a job and that’s to perform.”
The Commonwealth Games serve as a vital component of an athlete’s development. Nine athletes, in addition to the men’s 4 x 100-metre relay team, placed in the top eight at the 2017 IAAF World Championships, therefore, Canadians and track and field fans around the world can expect to see a number of breakout performances in Gold Coast that will lead to positive results in Tokyo at the Olympic/Paralympic Games in 2020.
“The Commonwealth Games have always been a foundation, a stepping stone, to the World Championships and Olympic/Paralympic Games. They bring together a great group of athletes, you run into very talented people at the Commonwealth Games,” said Gilbert. “Though friendly in nature, competition is competition, people are going down there to win medals. However, the Commonwealth Games also give us an opportunity to expose some of our younger athletes to an international competition, to look at our relay team and at a different formation of that team. It presents an opportunity to learn and to compete at a high level.”
Athletics competition will be held at Carrara Stadium, except for race walk (Currumbin Beachfront) and the men’s and women’s marathon (Southport Broadwater Parklands).
