© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation race announcers told viewers that Wednesday’s 20-kilometre race in Paris would be Evan Dunfee’s final Olympics (he is scheduled to race the marathon-length relay with Olivia Lundman). If so, the 33-year-old left a great effort on the road and finished his solo Olympic career swinging.

The tactics were smart, as he left himself in contention, save for one move that his competitors made. But Dunfee hammered the final loops and nearly gapped the leaders from his position around seventh to fifth. He missed the podium by five seconds and 17s off gold.

“I gave it all I had out there. I’m really proud of the effort. I missed that tiny little bit of it when the pace changed. Four guys were better than me today. I can’t really fault anything I did. It was a really tough course out there. I closed really hard and gave myself every possible chance that I had,” Dunfee said. “I’ll walk away with my head high, proud of myself and just really privileged to have this moment again and see how I stack up against the best in the world.”

Dunfee’s primary event the 50km racewalk was removed from the Olympic program for Paris. He had earned a bronze medal three years ago at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Racing 20km requires a different pace, it, until recently was not his best distance. Wednesday, he proved he is as good at 20km as he was at 50km.

“I’ve very publicly had my qualms with this event and my evolving motivation and confidence with it, so I’m happy to be able to get out there and prove once again that I belong, and I can compete at this level with these guys, and keep the motivation going – I’m hungry for the next one now,” he said.

Results

POSNAMENOCRESULT 
1PINTADO Brian DanielECU1:18:55 
2BONFIM CaioBRA1:19:09 
3MARTIN AlvaroESP1:19:11 
4STANO MassimoITA1:19:12 
5DUNFEE EvanCAN1:19:16 
6WAKUMA MisganaETH1:19:31NR
7IKEDA KokiJPN1:19:41 
8KOGA YutaJPN1:19:50 
9QUINION AurelienFRA1:19:56PB
10ZHANG JunCHN1:19:56 
11TINGAY DeclanAUS1:19:56SB
12COWLEY RhydianAUS1:20:04 
13CHAMA NoelMEX1:20:19NR
14ORTIZ RicardoMEX1:20:27 
15HURTADO DavidECU1:20:30 
16WILKINSON CallumGBR1:20:31 
17McGRATH PaulESP1:20:32 
18HAMANISHI RyoJPN1:20:33 
19LINKE ChristopherGER1:20:35 
20FORTUNATO FrancescoITA1:20:38 
21KARLSTROM PerseusSWE1:21:05 
22GATHIMBA Samuel KireriKEN1:21:26SB
23KOEPP LeoGER1:21:36 
24BORDIER GabrielFRA1:21:40 
25JIMENEZ ARROBO Jordy RafaelECU1:21:44 
26CAMPOS Luis HenryPER1:22:00SB
27BRZOZOWSKI ArturPOL1:22:11 
28GONCALVES dos SANTOS Max BatistaBRA1:22:16 
29BEN HLIMA MaherPOL1:22:34 
30SINGH VikashIND1:22:36 
31LI YandongCHN1:22:46 
32PARTANEN Veli-MattiFIN1:22:56 
33GARCIA CARRERA DiegoESP1:23:10 
34CERNY DominikSVK1:23:25 
35SWAN KyleAUS1:23:32 
36WANG ZhaozhaoCHN1:23:40 
37BISHT Paramjeet SinghIND1:23:48 
38BARRONDO Jose AlejandroGUA1:24:17 
39CORREA MatheusBRA1:24:25 
40HLAVAN IhorUKR1:24:52 
41ORSONI RiccardoITA1:25:08 
42CHOE ByeongkwangKOR1:26:15 
43BARRONDO Erick BernabeGUA1:26:19 
44HELEBRANDT MateHUN1:27:17 
45KORKMAZ SalihTUR1:29:05SB
46VENYERCSAN BenceHUN1:29:14 
 RODRIGUEZ Cesar AugustoPERDNF 
 SINGH AkshdeepINDDNF 
 DOCTOR Jose LuisMEXDQ