Canadian world race walk champion Evan Dunfee out of men’s 20k event with injury

By Canadian Press on September 19, 2025.

TOKYO — Evan Dunfee’s hopes of adding another gold medal at the world athletics championships have ended after the Canadian race-walker pulled out of Saturday’s men’s 20-kilometre event with a hamstring injury.

Dunfee said in an Instagram message posted Thursday that an MRI at Tokyo’s Juntendo University Hospital revealed a “fairly bad” tear in his right hamstring.

“I’m in the best shape of my life,” Dunfee wrote. “I was focusing my training and preparations on the 20km and I wanted to prove myself so badly over the shorter distance.”

The veteran competitor from Richmond, B.C., who turns 35 later this month, said previously he felt the hamstring “pop” as he neared the finish line of the men’s 35-kilometre race last Saturday.

Dunfee held on to win the race, but said he was competing in intense pain over the last two metres.

He said he had hoped for a recovery before MRI confirmed the extent of his injury.

Dunfee said he’s disappointed to miss the 20k race, but added he finds consolation in pushing through injury to win a world title.

“I put so much into this season and to not get to complete it sucks,” he said on social media. “But to put to rest the thoughts I always have that I’m a wimp, or that I can’t push through pain like others; that I pushed through (10 minutes) of racing on a wrecked hamstring to make a childhood dream come true is a consolation I am more than willing to live with.

“While I won’t be racing, you better believe I’ll be out there cheering on my friends and teammates on Saturday.”

Canada lost another chance at a potential medal when Moh Ahmed withdrew from Friday’s men’s 5,000-metre heats. The 2021 silver medallist from St. Catharines, Ont., pulled out of Sunday’s men’s 10,000 metres late after aggravating a calf strain he sustained in July.

In other Canadian results Friday, Ottawa’s Maëliss Trapeau did not advance to the women’s 800-metre final after finishing sixth in her semifinal, but the 24-year-old world championships rookie did set a personal-best time of one minute 58.9 seconds.

Competition continues Saturday morning (Friday night in North America) with a few Canadian medal hopefuls in action. Defending world champion Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., and 2021 Olympic champion Damian Warner of London, Ont., compete in the first three events of the decathlon, while two-time indoor world champion of Brooklyn, N.S., throws in her women’s shot put qualifying heat.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2025.

The Canadian Press