Richmond’s Olympian racewalker Evan Dunfee set a new Canadian record at the 2023 World Athletics Championships this weekend.
Dunfee finished fourth in the men’s 20-kilometre racewalk, the opening event that kicked off the World Athletics on Aug. 19 in Budapest, Hungary.
The 32-year-old finished with a time of one hour, 18 minutes and three seconds, just 13 seconds short of third place. This race also qualifies Dunfee for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Prior to competing in the World Athletics on Friday, Dunfee was altitude training in Switzerland for about six weeks.
Dunfee told the Richmond News that the training put him back into a competitive and motivated state for his 20 and 35-kilometre competitions.
“That kind of lit the fire under me … to have training partners again and to be able to have someone else there with me out every day when I’m training,” he said.
“I feel like my head is in a really good place and I’m really motivated for the World’s compared to last year where I was feeling a little bit mentally burnt out after the Olympics.”
And while winning a medal and being on the podium would be ideal, Dunfee has been mainly looking forward to a good race among top athletes.
“I’m not going into the World’s expecting to win the medal, but if I can have a really good race and put myself in there with a chance, that’s kind of the big goal," he said to the News before the competition.
When asked what he hopes to achieve at the World's this year, Dunfee is aiming for top eight, or at least top 15 in his events.
“I always show up to compete when it counts the most and it's something I pride myself in, so ideally top eight fighting for one of those spots on the podium.”
Dunfee will be competing in the 35-kilometre racewalk event on Thursday, Aug. 24, which can be viewed here.
