Richmond's Evan Dunfee overcame stifling heat and humidity in Toronto for the biggest achievement of his race walking career to date, capturing gold in the men’s 20-kilometre event at the Pan American Games on Sunday.
The 24-year-old was clocked in a time of one hour, 23 minutes and six seconds, finishing 79 seconds ahead of Canadian teammate and longtime training partner Inaki Gomez of Vancouver.
“There were very few times in the race where I felt hot so I think we managed it better than anyone else did and that of helped me,” Dunfee told the CBC. “We knew it was going to be hot, but we just thought it was going to be the same for everyone. Some of these guys train in altitude where it's a little bit dryer so it's a different kind of heat than they're used to.”
Dunfee broke away early and never relquinshed the lead. The field included Olympic silver medalist Erick Barrondo of Guatemala who made a late charge to get to second place but was eventually disqualified.
Dunfee has been gaining momentum and results since an outstanding 2014 season that saw him set a new Canadian record with an 11th place finish at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup. That achievement helped him earn Athletics Canada’s Off Track Athlete of the Year Award.
He also received the Fred Tees Award as the top Canadian athlete enrolled at a Canadian university. Dunfee has graduated from UBC with a degree in kinesiology.
He will now prepare for next month’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing. It will bring him back to the country where he competed in the World Cup with so much success a year ago.
Dunfee has also achieved the Canadian Olympic standard and is looking to secure his spot in Rio next summer.
Meanwhile, Noemie Thomas and Luke Reilly showed why they are two of Canada’s top up-and-coming swimmers with a trio of silver medals in the Pan Am Games pool last week.
Thomas, 19, finished second to American Kelsi Worell in the 100 metre butterly, with a clocking of 58 seconds. Canadian teammate Katerine Savard was third.
The result came two days after the butterfly specialist was forced to miss the 200 event due to illness.
“I feel really great tonight,’’ said Thomas. ‘’The crowd is so amazing. To get that close to my personal best is really great and I couldn’t do it without the support of my friends and family especially after getting sick.”
The Cal-Berkeley student was back in the water Saturday, helping Canada finish second in the 4x100 medley relay. Thomas will soon head to Russia to compete at the FINA World Championships.
Reilly, 19, captured silver in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:16.16, finishing behind Brazil’s Brandonn Almeida (4:14). The UBC student was also sixth in Saturday’s 200 IM event.
