Richmond's Olympian racewalker Evan Dunfee not only won his latest race in Australia. but also set a new national record.
The Olympic bronze medallist won first place and broke the Canadian 10,000-metre race walk record at the Australia Capital Territory State Championships event held in Canberra, Australia, this weekend.
Dunfee crossed the finish line in 38 minutes and 25:42 seconds. This smashed his former record, set during the 2022 Commonwealth Games, by 10 seconds.
Not only did he beat his record, but he also beat the North American record by one second, resulting in the fastest time in the world so far.
This is the fifth time the Richmond resident and Kajaks Track and Field athlete has lowered this record since first breaking it in 2016.
Dunfee told the Richmond News he was happy with his race.
"(I) executed it exactly how I wanted to from a tactical perspective," said Dunfee.
"I wanted to sit behind the leader for the first five kilometres and then have a big negative split to cover the last five kilometres. I did exactly that and came away with the win going 19:32 and 18:53 for the five-kilometre splits."
This record, Dunfee added, is a great start to his 2024 campaign as he plans to work towards improving one or more of his spots, from his fourth-place finish at last year's World Championships in Budapest.
His goal is to land on the podium at the Paris Olympics in the 20-kilometre distance.
Dunfee will be racing in the 20-kilometre event at the Australian Championships in Adelaide on Feb. 11.
He was in Richmond in early January taking part in the local eight-kilometre IceBreaker event in preparation for his competitions in New Zealand and Australia.
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