Richmond’s Evan Dunfee and Camryn Rogers are among 46 athletes selected by Athletics Canada for next month’s Pan American Games in Peru.
Dunfee, 28, will get the opportunity to defend his 20 km race walking gold, won four years ago in Toronto. He will also compete in the 50 km event — a distance he narrowly missed out on reaching the podium in a memorable performance at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
Rogers, 20, is coming off an outstanding sophomore season at the University of California — highlighted by capturing the women’s hammer throw event at the NCAA Championships in Texas. Twice she broke her school and U23 Canadian records in the process of winning the event.
The Pan Am Games will run from July 26 to Aug. 11 in Lima. The team, comprised of 19 men and 27 women, will focus on contributing to the overall Canadian medal count and improving on its 27 podium finishes (11 gold, seven silver and nine bronze) from Toronto in 2015.
The Pan American Games serve as a vital component towards development, as was seen in 2015 with breakout performances by Rio 2016 triple Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay), world silver medallist Melissa Bishop (800m), world champion Shawn Barber (pole vault) and Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Derek Drouin (high jump).
A total of 38 of 90 athletes from the 2015 Pan American Games team went on to represent Canada at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which means Canadians can expect to see a number of outstanding performances in Lima that will lead to positive results in Tokyo.
