With a gold medal at the 2025 World Championships, Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee finally got the spotlight he wanted. It’s a memorable win for the Canadian because he won the gold after six failed trials. Needless to say, he received tremendous support from his fans following the win. However, due to an unprecedented injury, Dunfee had to pull out of the 20km event. Following this, the Olympic Federation helped him reach his home safely and with utmost care. with a clock-in time of 2:28:22,

Evan Dunfee tore his hamstring right before the 20km race walking event. Having put a lot of effort into training for the event, the pullout deeply disappointed the Canadian. He had an MRI done at Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo, which revealed the severity of his “fairly bad” injury. He tore his hamstring while nearing the end of the 35km race. Yet, he pushed through the final 10 minutes to claim the win with a limp. 

Taking to his X handle, the race walking world champion thanked Air Canada and the Olympic Federation for his trip back home. He wrote, “One thing I have been very nervous about since my hamstring tear is the flight home. Sitting is still very painful/ uncomfortable and a 9 hour flight was making me quite anxious. I reached out to our Olympic Team and asked if they could connect with Air Canada about maybe getting an upgrade. I’m not someone who ever expects special treatment, but the relief on my face when I checked in and saw 1D on my boarding pass was beyond belief. So thank you to the official Airline of Team Canada!”  

However, despite his golden victory in the Men’s 35 km race walk, he wasn’t really free from criticism. Well, many people refuse to consider race walking as a real sport. However, there’s so much more to race walking than what meets the eye. 

Evan Dunfee defends race walking from the claims of it being a ‘fake sport’

During a recent conversation with The Japan Times, Evan Dunfee stated, “Race walking is no different. We’re slower than the top runners; we’re faster than a lot of runners. Just as the best breaststrokers are quicker than your average swimmer. We can still walk faster than most people can run.” The race walking athletes must take note of a few rules, like one foot must always be in contact with the ground, the front foot must always be straight till it passes under the body, and a lot more. These rules tend to showcase the sport as an ‘awkward’ walk. 

But even that awkward walk has the power to propel the body further and faster than a lot of styles. Dunfee continued, “You never really see a tactical race walk. And that’s one of the things I love about the race walk, is that guys go, ‘I’m fit enough to do this time, so I’m going to go out, I’m going to do this. And if you’re fit enough to come with me, come with me.’ Whereas you’ll see in the marathon, it’ll kind of plod along. A lot of times, it’ll go out quite slow, and it won’t really be until that sort of last third of the race that maybe things start to really ramp up in a championship race.” With races often held on closed loops and open to the public, Evan Dunfee thinks fans will be drawn to race walking if they give it a chance.

The contestants of race walking are more prone to disqualification as a single violation brings in a red card, and three reds from different judges mean one thing – instant DQ. That’s something that can flip the outcome of a race within a speck of a second. Nevertheless, following his rehabilitation and healing, we can expect Evan Dunfee to shine through and ace a few more races in the upcoming season. But do you think he could have won the gold in the 20km race, had he not injured himself?