Canada’s Evan Dunfee won the men’s 10-kilometre race walk with a record-setting performance on Sunday for the country’s 23rd gold medal of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
It was 3.35 seconds faster than his previous national record of 38:39.72 set in June 2021 at the Harry Jerome Track Classic.
Dunfee fell behind at the halfway point, but he moved up from fifth place and took the lead in the closing stages. It’s his first Commonwealth Games medal in his third appearance.
WATCH l Dunfee tops podium in men’s race walk:
The Richmond, B.C. native’s time of 38:36.37 set a Games record as well as broke his own Canadian record.
“To believe in myself today as much as my friends and family back home believed in me. That was the goal for today, to just come in here and have that same belief as everyone else has in me, and back myself, and that’s what I did and I’m thrilled,” Dunfee said.
Sunday’s race was a huge change for Dunfee, as it was held on the track in Alexander Stadium.
“That was amazing, to come out here, be in the stadium, we’ve never experienced anything like this as race walkers,” he said.
Dunfee’s victory comes after a tough season that saw him struggle with a nagging hamstring injury and lack of motivation largely around the elimination of the 50-kilometre event, in which he won bronze at both last summer’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2019 world championships.
Dunfee had lobbied fiercely to keep the event, but it was eventually scrapped from the world and Olympic programs.
Dunfee finished sixth in the 35km race at the World Athletics Championships last month in Eugene, Ore. He also holds the Canadian record in the 50km event.
Canada has also won 29 silver and 33 bronze medals for a total of 85 medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which has them third in the standings. The Games conclude on Monday.