 Dunfee in 2021 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Born | (1990-09-28)September 28, 1990 (age 35) Richmond, British Columbia, Canada |
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 67 kg (148 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Canada |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Racewalking |
Medal record | |
Evan Dunfee (born September 28, 1990)[1] is a Canadianrace walker and Olympian. An Olympic and World medallist, Dunfee first set theCanadian record in the50 kilometres race walk (at 3:41:38) at the2016 Summer Olympics, where he placed fourth. He went on to win bronze medals at the2019 World Athletics Championships and the2020 Summer Olympics, which was the last time both of those competitions held the 50 km as an event. He is the reigning world champion in35 kilometres, having won the gold medal at the2025 World Championships.[2]
He competed for his national team in the50K walk at the 2013 World Championships, finishing in under 4 hours at 3:59:28. He won a bronze medal with his team at the2013 World University Games where two of the winning Russian race walkers,Denis Strelkov andAndrey Ruzavin have since been suspended fordoping violations. Dunfee is the2012 champion andrecord holder for the 20 km walk at theNACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics. He was the silver medalist at theAthletics at the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie. He has several near misses finishing fourth at the2009 Pan American Race Walking Cup, the2013 Pan American Race Walking Cup,2015 Pan American Race Walking Cup and the 2012Oceania Race Walking Championships and sixth at the2010 Commonwealth Games[3] usually very close to teammate and training partnerIñaki Gomez.
Dunfee grew up and currently lives inRichmond, British Columbia, training up to 50 km a day.[4] He attended Kingswood Elementary andMatthew McNair Secondary School inRichmond, British Columbia. He graduated from theUniversity of British Columbia in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree inkinesiology.[5] Dunfee was a digital contributor toCanadian Running Magazine.[6] His investigative work on illegaldoping-related activities by Russian competitors has been quoted by theAssociated Press and Inside the Games.[7][8][9] Additionally, he is a KidSport ambassador.[10] In 2018, in support of KidSport's 25th anniversary, he raised funds and walked 25 km a day for 25 days.[11]
In July 2016, he was named toCanada's Olympic team for the2016 Rio Olympics.[12] In the50-kilometre race walk,Hirooki Arai of Japan initially finished third. He was thendisqualified for making contact with Dunfee, but Arai's medal was reinstated after a Japaneseappeal led to overturning the disqualification. Dunfee advised the Canadian team against making a further appeal.[13] Dunfee set a new Canadian record in the event.[14] He also competed in the20-kilometre race walk, placing tenth.
After dealing with injuries, Dunfee took some time out from the sport in 2018 before beginning what he termed a restart with new goals. His work with KidSport to raise money for charity was part of an attempt to give him "a different avenue to chase [his] competitive spirit," and he credited it with reinvigorating him heading into the 2019 season.[15] Competing at the2019 World Athletics Championships inDoha, Dunfee won the bronze medal, the second medal for a Canadian in racewalk at the World Championships, and the first in the 50 km. This was the last time the 50 km was contested at the World Championships, a decision Dunfee indicated he disagreed with. He went on to say that his full focus was on preparing for the next Olympics.[16]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the2020 Summer Olympics inTokyo were delayed by a year. As in Doha, this was the last time the50 kilometres race walk was to be a featured event at the Olympics. In the closing metres of the race, Dunfee surged into third place and won the bronze medal, becoming the third-ever Canadian racewalking Olympic medalist and the only one in the 50 km event. He said, "I don't need a medal to validate myself. I'm proud of what I accomplished today, but I have been dreaming of this moment and winning this medal for 21 years. I am over the moon."[17] Dunfee's accomplishment in Tokyo was recognized by the Canadian association of national team athletes with their True Sport Award for the athlete who "exemplifies the highest values of sport, including sportsmanship, perseverance and inclusion" in December 2021.[18]
The transition to the 2022 season was difficult for Dunfee, who struggled with both a hamstring injury and depression relating toWorld Athletics' decision to retire from the 50 km event in favour of the new 35 km. He said it had "been a mental struggle for me, finding the motivation and mostly related to just coming to terms with the 50K not existing anymore, and that was so much of my identity."[19] In his first major championship appearance in the new event, he finished seventh at the2022 World Race Walking Team Championships inMuscat.[20][7] He was sixth at the2022 World Championships inEugene, Oregon, which he said he was "thrilled" by in light of his recent difficulties.[21] Later in the summer, Dunfee was named to theCanadian team for the2022 Commonwealth Games inBirmingham, competing in the newly-added10,000 m walk. He won the gold medal in a new national andCommonwealth Games record time of 38:36.37.[22]
Dunfee sought election to theRichmond City Council in the2022 municipal elections.[23] He finished tenth in balloting, twoordinals back of a place on the council.[24]
At the2023 World Athletics Championships, Dunfee competed in the20 km walk on the first day of the event, finishing fourth with a Canadian record time 1:18:03.[25] He went on to finish fourth as well in the35 km walk, having torn his hamstring around 32 kilometres into the race. He said that recovery times would likely preclude his planned participation in the2023 Pan American Games.[26]
But Dunfee did compete at the2023 Pan American Games inSantiago,Chile. He finished 9th in the20 km walk in 1:22:14, and afterwards said "The hamstring was a big setback, but ... I went out there and I gave it my best shot."[27]
In 2024 he served as acreative consultant on the sports comedy filmRacewalkers, in which he has a small background role.[28]
He placed fifth in the 20K walk, the only distance contested at the Olympics, at the2024 Paris Games.[29]
On March 22, 2025 Dunfee broke theworld record in the 35 km race walk by 7 seconds, setting a new time of 2:21:40 at the Dudince 50, aWorld Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meet in Slovakia; the record stood for shortly under 2 months, until it was surpassed byMassimo Stano of Italy on 18 May 2025.[30]
At the2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships, his seventh world championships, Dunfee won gold in the men's 35-kilometre race walk, finishing the race in 2:28:22, only 33 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.[29]
| Event | Result | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Road walk | |||
| 10 km | 39:22 min[31] |  Madrid | June 1, 2025 |
| 20 km | 1:17:39 hrs[32] |  Adelaide | February 19, 2025 |
| 35 km | 2:21:40 hrs[33] |  Dudince | March 22, 2025 |
| 50 km | 3:41:38 hrs |  Rio de Janeiro | August 19, 2016 |
| Track walk | |||
| 5000 m | 18:39.08 min |  Burnaby, British Columbia | June 18, 2021 |
| 10,000 m | 38:36.37 min |  Birmingham, United Kingdom | August 7, 2022 |
| 20,000 m | 1:25:15.0 hrs (ht) | Calgary, Alberta | June 25, 2011 |
†: Guest appearance out of competition.
| 50 km |
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|---|---|
| 35 km |
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| 10 km |
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|---|---|
| 20 km |
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| 20 kilometres (1998–2018) |
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|---|---|
| 10,000 metres (2022–present) | |
