Canada's Evan Dunfee finishes 6th in men's 35km race walk at World Athletics Championships
Richmond, B.C. athlete sets North American record time of 2:25:02
Canadian Olympic bronze medallist Evan Dunfee says he's come to love climbing medal podiums.
"To come away with sixth after the year it's been... it's been a struggle for me this year, it's been physically and emotionally and mentally a little bit tough," Dunfee said. "So to get sixth, I'm thrilled with this, and to have my family and friends out here on the sidelines cheering me on, that was awesome."
Dunfee, who sat around 12th place for much of the race before moving up through the final few kilometres, crossed in two hours 25 minutes two seconds.
Italy's Massimo Stano took the gold in 2:23.14. Japan's Masatora Kawano was second in 2:23.15, while Sweden's Perseus Kalstrom won the bronze (2:23.44).
I’m happy. I don’t know what more I could have done today. I’m a 50km guy racing a 20k guys race. I got a year to figure out how to become a 35km guy. Let’s do it.<br>Thanks for all the support.<br>And a huge huge congrats to <a href="https://twitter.com/PersKarlstrom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PersKarlstrom</a>, again. <a href="https://t.co/tQAtnONSzk">https://t.co/tQAtnONSzk</a>
—@EvanDunfeeDunfee captured bronze both at last summer's Tokyo Olympics and the 2019 world championships in Doha.
"I got used to the podium," Dunfee said with a laugh. "It's always disappointing to not be on there. Not disappointing, disappointing's the wrong word. But, it's something that, as much as I told myself — and I am really proud of this race — but you're still like, ah, that podium's fun to stand on.
"But no, I think today was a really good race."
"The athlete voice, it can only go so far, I guess," Dunfee said. "I'll forever defend the value of the 50k.
"But yeah, for where my body's been at or how much of a struggle this year has been, I can't be unhappy with that performance... if you told me yesterday I'd come sixth, I'd probably been pretty happy with that, so I'll take it."
