Dunfee, Perez make golden start as Allman eyes maiden world title

Racewalkers Evan Dunfee of Canada and Spain’s defending champion Maria Perez took the opening gold medals at the World Athletics Championships yesterday, while the big beasts of the women’s discus and men’s shot advanced safely through qualifying.

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Despite an early morning start, the humidity made for testing conditions for the walkers, but 34-year-old Dunfee battled through in two hours, 28 minutes and 22 seconds for his first global title.

“My coach and I have been together since I was 10 years old, and back then we sat down and set goals to become world champion and to set the world record. We managed to do both this year and it really is a dream come true,’ Dunfee said.

World record holder Perez, who did the 20km-35km double in Budapest two years ago, is on course to repeat it after a dominating victory in 2.39.01.

Once the walkers had departed, the field events took centre stage at the magnificent stadium, with a totally different atmosphere to when it hosted the Covid-delayed Olympics in 2021 athletics with no fans present.