B.C.’s Evan Dunfee sets world record in 35-kilometre race walk

Canada's Evan Dunfee leads the pack during the marathon race walk relay mixed at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (Vadim Ghirda / AP / The Canadian Press)

DUDINCE, SLOVAKIA — Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee set a world record in the 35 kilometres Saturday.

The 34-year-old from Richmond, B.C., posted a time of two hours, 21 minutes, 40 seconds to shave seven seconds off the previous record held by Japan’s Masatora Kawano since last October.

Dunfee also knocked more than three minutes off his previous best time to win the Dudince 50 World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meet in Dudince, Slovakia.

“I was well under pace, but then lost a little time over the last seven kilometres,” Dunfee told World Athletics. ”I (then) got a little stressed out, but it was a dream come true.

“I’m so proud to be on that winners plaque here at Dudince.”

German runner-up Christopher Linke finished three minutes behind the Canadian. Mexico’s Jose Doctor was third.

Dunfee was an Olympic bronze medallist in the 50-kilometre race in Tokyo in 2021.

That 50k is no longer part of the Olympic Games, which has men’s and women’s 20k races and a mixed relay.

Dunfee was fifth in the men’s 20k in the Paris Olympics last year.

The Canadian started fast Saturday in a temperature of 8 degrees C and was the solo leader from the start gun to the finish line.

He built a 30-second lead on his closest competitors by the 5k mark and held a world-record pace of four-minute kilometres.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2025.