Canadian men earn 1st-ever team medal at world race walk team championships
Benjamin Thorne led the trio with a 5th-place individual finish
Canada claimed their first-ever medal at the IAAF world race walk team championships Saturday in Rome.
The Vancouver trio of Benjamin Thorne, Inaki Gomez and Evan Dunfee earned the silver by finishing with 27 points, just behind the Chinese team, who took gold with the top-two fastest individual times. Ecuador earned bronze.
Team standings: CHN 16, CAN 27, ECU 41 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rome2016?src=hash">#Rome2016</a>
—@iaaforgThorne led the Canadians with a fifth-place finish in a personal best time of one hour, 19:55 minutes. Gomez came in close behind in seventh and Dunfee rounded out the team in 16th.
The podium finish serves as redemption for Canada, as the same team missed out on a medal in 2014 by a single point.
The team standings are determined by the individual results of the top-three race walkers from each country.