By Gary Kingston
The Jerome Classic ran on Tuesday, July 15, at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia. Canadians Evan Dunfee in the racewalk and Sarah Mitton in the shot put set records during the meet.
Evan Dunfee continues to break records
You don’t usually consider sprinting when discussing race walking, but when the long-distance athletics discipline is contested over just 3,000 metres, well, it is a relative dash to the finish line.
Veteran Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee, the world record holder at 35K, has proven he can go slow fast – keeping one foot in contact with the ground at all times – at any distance.
Dunfee, 34, of Richmond, clocked 11 minutes, 2.07 seconds at the Jerome Classic track meet on Tuesday, bettering his previous national record of 11:07 from the 2024 Jerome meet.
“It’s really nice because I’ve been struggling for the last month and a half or so,” said Dunfee on a stifling hot day at Swangard Stadium. “Things just haven’t been clicking as well, but I knew this record was achievable because last year when I set the 3K record, it was in a 5K race. But it’s funny, this is so short from what I’ve normally done.
“Everyone is saying ‘oh, it’s so hot today’ . . . and I’m like ‘yeah, it’s a good day for a sprint.’ And they’ll look at me like ‘What do you mean?’ I’m like 3K, it’s a sprint.’”’
The new national record was the fourth mark Dunfee has topped since January, when he took 18 seconds off his Canadian record in the 10K by running 38:08 in Australia.
In February, he set a 20K North American record of 1:17.39, then broke the world record at the more conventional distance of 35K, recording a time of 2:21.40 in Slovakia to better the five-month-old mark of 2:21.47 set by Masatora Kawano of Japan.
After his brother’s wedding in Toronto on the weekend, Dunfee, who earned bronze medals at the 2019 world championships and 2020 Olympics in the since-discontinued distance of 50K, heads to a training camp in Switzerland en route to competing at the 2025 world championships in Tokyo in September.
There will be both a 35K and 20K race walk at Tokyo, with a seven-day break in between.
“The 35K is first, which is new for us. Usually, we have the shorter one first and the longer one second. A seven-day rest should be doable if we’re sensible in the 35K and recover properly.
“I want to feel good about (worlds). I’ve had a really good year. This last month has been a bit of a lull, I feel confident I can bring it back up. The body is in good shape. I’ve just got to tune it up and do those little things right, so we’re ready to fire on all cylinders.”
Other events at Jerome
Elsewhere at the Jerome, Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton, the two-time world indoor champion, bettered her two-year-old meet record with a put of 20.14 metres. It came after a gruelling stretch of meets in Portland, Ore., Monaco and Edmonton over the previous 10 days.
Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton brings her new technique to Harry Jerome Track Classic https://t.co/v3y4GVRysa pic.twitter.com/GAyo9GGnlv
— The Province (@theprovince) July 10, 2025
At all but Edmonton, Mitton, who has a personal best of 20.68 metres, threw over 20 metres.
“I love the consistency,” she said. “That’s what leads to the bigger throws. And to find it here when I wasn’t super fresh is really exciting.”
De’Vion Wilson of Houston won the men’s 110-metre hurdles in 13.44 seconds, shaving one one-hundredth of a second off Canadian legend’s meet record from 1988. The win completed a sweep of Canada for Wilson, who previously won at meets in Windsor, Ont., Guelph, Ont., London, Ont. and Edmonton.
He set a personal best of 13.22 in London, fast enough to go under the qualifying standard for world championships. But the American depth in the event is so strong – 13 hurdlers are ahead of him in the world rankings – so Wilson still needs to finish in the top three at the U.S. nationals to book a spot in Tokyo.
Marcellus Moore of Chicago won the men’s 100 metres in a very fast 10.07 seconds, just off Canadian star Donovan Bailey’s meet record of 9.99 set in 1987.
Moore finished fourth at Windsor, second in Guelph, set a personal record of 9.96 in winning in London and was second in Edmonton.
“It’s definitely built up my confidence,” said Moore. “Great competition, great atmosphere. I love being up here in Canada.”
The highly anticipated men’s 800 metres didn’t quite deliver. Reigning champion Matti Erickson of Nelson, B.C., was a late scratch after he went 1:44.49 in Los Angeles on Saturday to come in just under the qualifying standard for world championships. Jamaican record holder Navasky Anderson, who also obtained the standard, said he still wanted to make his first appearance in Canada, but ran as a pacer at Swangard.
The race was won by Handal Roban of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1:45.78, two seconds off the meet record. Anderson ran a strong opening lap and had the lead on the final turn, but faded down the stretch and finished in 1:46.92, more than two seconds off his national record.
